1,721,091 research outputs found
Tra Orcia e Asso ... Chiese e insediamenti nei secoli di formazione dei paesaggi medievali: il caso della pieve di Pava
No full textIl territorio in cui da oltre un decennio conduciamo indagini archeologiche di vario tipo consiste in uno spazio dotato di una matrice geomorfologica comune non priva però di peculiarità locali a volte anche spiccate. Si tratta di due bacini idrografici, la Val d’Orcia e la Val d’Asso, che abbracciano sei comprensori comunali (Pienza, S.Quirico d’Orcia, Montalcino e Castiglion d’Orcia, per quanto riguarda la Val d’Orcia; San Giovanni d’Asso e parti marginali dei territori di S.Quirico d’Orcia Montalcino per la Val d’Asso). Le ricerche, oltre alla ricognizioni di superficie, hanno utilizzato, come standard, la lettura stereoscopica di fotografie verticali (con particolare riferimento alle coperture EIRA 1976 e AIMA 1996), la raccolta di bibliografia storica e archeologica, fonti documentarie edite e la consultazione di cartografia storica. Con l’obiettivo di superare i limiti connaturati alla ricerca di superficie, con particolare riferimento alla visibilità archeologica, per arricchire la capacità di discriminare tipologie di evidenze e orizzonti cronologici caratterizzati da culture materiali labili abbiamo progressivamente intensificato le indagini tramite l’introduzione di nuove metodologie: ricognizioni aeree e fotografie oblique, indagini geofisiche estensive e puntuali, realizzate con vari metodi, acquisizioni LiDAR di campioni dei territori della Val d’Asso e della Val d’Orcia. Inoltre abbiamo affiancato allo studio del territorio l’analisi puntuale di alcuni contesti basata su sullo scavo archeologico di grandi aree. I dati sui quali fondiamo le nostre analisi sono in totale circa 1900 evidenze, 1278 provenienti dalle nostre indagini archeologiche mentre 622 dalla ricerca bibliografica
Remote Sensing And Fieldwalking Survey To The Study Of Ancient Landscapes: An Integrated Approach
No full textThe Department of Medieval Archaeology at the University of Siena has been actively engaged in programmes of landscape archaeology for over thirty years. Territorial studies have been based for the most part on three methodologies of investigation, field survey in sample areas, field examination to assess the significance of individual monuments and analysis of vertical air photos combined with selective ground-truthing. The need to test new instruments and new approaches to surveying derives from a certain dissatisfaction with the results obtained through these traditional methods. The earlier work allowed us to identify a large number of new sites and to collect new data about known sites. But we still felt that we had not answered questions about our understanding of the complexity that characterizes ancient landscapes, ancient settlement patterns and their relationships to one another. In particular some specific chronological periods, such as the Early Middle Ages, and some specific historical questions, such as the change in the location of settlement from Roman villa to hillfort, remain particularly hard to confront. In our previous strategy there was too large a difference between the nature of the information obtained from surface collection and that derived from stratigraphical excavation. We clearly needed to develop our capacity to recover more detailed information without recourse to large-scale excavation. We therefore turned our attention, among other things, to the improvement of remote sensing techniques, while at the same time remaining aware of the limitations that this methodology is likely to encounter in a countryside like that of Tuscany
The use of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms): Agricultural biotechnology or agricultural biopolitics?
No full textAgricultural biotechnologies embrace a large array of conventional and modern technologies, spanning from composting organic by-products of agriculture to innovative improvement of quality traits of about twenty out of the mostly cultivated plants. In EU a rather restrictive legislative framework has been installed for GMOs, requiring a risk assessment disproportionate with respect to conventional agriculture and organic farming products. The latter are far from being proved safe for human and animal health, and for the environment. Biotechnology of GMOs has been overtaken by biopolitics. On one side there are biotechnological challenges to be tackled, on another side there is plenty of ground for biopolitical decisions about GMOs. Perhaps the era of harsh confrontation could be fruitfully replaced by sensible cooperation, in order to get a sustainable agricultural development
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Chemical analysis of floor samples as a tool for archaeological prospection. Comparison with the magnetic survey data and the archaeological excavation data: the case study of Pava (Italy)
No full textPhosphate analysis is one of the first techniques applied in archaeological prospection. Its utility was already clear in the middle of the XIXth century.
Phosphates are in fact related to human activity and at a major level correspond to the human presence in the landscape. At intra-site level phosphates concentrations correspond to trush pits, food preparation and consumption areas as well as stables and cemeteries.
The use of phosphate analysis as a prospection instrument it’s less and less used in archaeological projects also due to the effectiveness of other techniques such as geophysics.
Nevertheless in the project of Pava directed by Campana and Felici, we decided to use a broader spectrum of techniques in order to gain as much information as possible before starting the excavation.
The aim was also to test the validity of the different techniques and establish the suitability of their use in different situations. In this case we had in fact the opportunity of comparing the results of the prospection with those obtained by an extensive excavation that can allow testing the results of each technique and their complementarity.
Among the techniques carried out there were the chemical analysis of soil samples taken from the surface. pH, phosphate and carbonate analysis were carried out in order to find patterns that could reflect the presence of human activities or cultural modifications of the soil
Large scale magnetic survey and archaeological mapping. The Grosseto and Siena projects
No full textIn order to improve the quantity and above all the quality of the archaeological record, and to both sharpen and broaden the scope of our researches, we established the Laboratory of Landscape Archaeology and Remote Sensing (LAP&T). The aim of the unit is the progressive introduction of remote earth observation systems, along with the enhancement of surface collection techniques through the application of new instruments and methods of data collection and documentation, for both the archaeological and the environmental records. Though still at the stage of ‘work in progress’ we are already putting into effect a new strategy of research. This is flexible, open-ended and based on the conviction that only through the integrated application of a wide range of research methods and information technology will we be able to confront the complexities inherent in the study of the landscapes of the past (CAMPANA and FRANCOVICH 2003). Our approach is conceived as multi-scale, from the macro-environment (the region) through the local environment (the catchments area) to the point-environment (the individual site). We aim to be able to respond with varying degrees of refinement both to matters of conservation and to individual archeological or historical problems of a specifically scientific nature.
So far, we have put in train the following approaches:
• survey and documentation through oblique air photography;
• high-resolution satellite imagery;
• historical air photo coverage;
• large-scale geophysical survey;
• digital photogrammetry
Integration between magnetic surveys and archaeological excavations: the case study Pava (Siena, Central Italy)
No full textThe archaeological site of Pava is located in the southern province of Siena,
(municipality of San Giovanni d’Asso). The location of the area, obtained through
the historical and archaeological studies of landscape, is part of the project
“Archaeological Map of Siena Province”, started in the 1990 with a collaboration
between the Department of Archaeology of University of Siena and the Province
of Siena. The researches made with the aim to asses the historical and
archaeological properties of the territory of San Giovanni d’Asso, have interested
a period between 2000 and 2004, with the results to locate about 260 historicalarchaeological
sites. Pava is one of the most important site among these.
In this area the scatter pottery allowed us to consider the site as a remarkable
complex probably linked to the ancient road. The chronology of the site covered a
time from the late (roman) republican-first imperial (I century b.C.-I century a.C.)
till the late roman phase (till VI century a.C.) The main interesting implication for
this site is contained in a document of Lombard time (714-715) where there is the
mention of a S. Pietro in Pava parish church (today inexistent). The site has been
studied analysing a set of vertical aerial photographs and making aerial surveys
from 2002 to 2004, with the aim to locate buried structures. Together with these
information, a large scale geophysical surveys, employing a differential magnetic
method, have been carried out
Integration between different remote-sensing surveys to characterise Aiali archaeological site (Grosseto, Central Italy
No full textTo enhanche the knowledge of the Aiali site (Grosseto, Central Italy), finalized to the localization and conservation of the unknown buried structures below the actual studied levels, a scientific collaboration between the University of Siena and the CNR was developed in 2005-2006 and is still in progress. The site has been studied analising a set of vertical aerial photographs and making aerial surveys from 2001 to 2004, with the aim to locate buried structures. Large scale geophysical surveys emploing a different magnetic method and a GPR survey were carried out between 2004 and 2006
- …
