Search Results (3)

During forensic archaeological research conducted in 2021 in the Comacchio Lagoon (FE), we detected new data concerning the ancient local hydrography to the west of Argine Agosta, an ancient bank, in Valle Fossa di Porto. A systematic campaign of geophysical surveys for heritage and archaeology was conducted with a hydrographic drone equipped with a single-beam bathymetric sensor echo sounder, sub-bottom profiler, and side-scan sonar. In combination with the indirect non-invasive investigations, systematic surveys of the walkable areas were also completed. These remote-sensing studies have relocated the River Vatrenus palaeo-watercourse, while visual census have brought to light a system of wooden palisades with floors made of wood associated with some scattered finds belonging to the material culture dating back to the Mediaeval and Renaissance periods. A preview of the results of this case study is presented here, contributing to the reconstruction of the ancient landscape and waterscape area of the Valle Fossa di Porto. Full article

Literary and historical sources provide information about Late Roman forests in the Delta of the River Po, in the district of Ferrara (Italy), between Vicus Aventiae (Voghenza), Sandalo, Gambulaga, Caput Gauri (Codigoro) and Castrum Cumiacli (Comacchio). Toponymy, archaeological excavations and geoarchaeological studies support the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of this land. In this work, after a brief examination of the ancient texts, we are going to introduce some new data concerning archaeobotanical evidence, detected by remote sensing in combination with direct surveys (on land and underwater). On the technical side, we are going to present a geomatic application for underwater measurements of ancient trunks related to discoveries in the palaeo-watercourses of the River Po (geomatic measurements, thanks to remote sensing surveys, allows us to have detailed length and diameters of trunks and trees, which are not always visible and detectable while diving) together with some satellite elevation measurement of the river banks and 3D map supported by geocomputation. Thanks to botanical data, we are able to illustrate the local context of the paleoenvironmental/archaeological sites, offering a reconstruction of the landscape and of the use of the wood. Full article

In the southern area of the Ferrara District, Italy, remote sensing investigations associated with geo-archaeological drilling in underwater archaeological studies, have helped to broad our understanding of the historical evolution and cultural heritage of inland waterways. In working on prototype sites, we have taken a multidisciplinary approach of surveillance and preventive archaeology, and have collaborated with archaeologists, geologists, hydro-biologists, and engineers. In this area of research, often lakes, lagoons, and rivers are characterized by low visibility. Some Quaternary events have deeply modified Ferrara’s landscape. Analysis of preserved samples from micro-drillings, underwater direct and indirect surveys, and the cataloguing of historical artefacts, are giving to the researchers a remarkable ancient chronology line. Recent studies confirmed anthropization sequences from the 1st Century B.C. to the 6th Century A.D. Waterscape archaeology, a multidisciplinary science devoted to the study of the human use of wetlands and anthropological connection with the water environment, testifies the ways in which people, in the past, constructed and used the water environment. In this article, we describe underwater cultural heritage research using 3D side scan sonar surveys and artifacts analysis, comparing data from direct diving investigations and stratigraphic data from micro-geological drillings on sites of Lago Tramonto, Gambulaga, Portomaggiore (Ferrara). Full article