Laetoli is a well-known palaeontological locality in northern Tanzania whose outstanding record includes the earliest hominin footprints in the world (3.66 million years old), discovered in 1978 at Site G and attributed to Australopithecus afarensis. Here, we report hominin tracks unearthed in the new Site S at Laetoli and referred to two bipedal individuals (S1 and S2) moving on the same palaeosurface and in the same direction as the three hominins documented at Site G. The stature estimates for S1 greatly exceed those previously reconstructed for Au. afarensis from both skeletal material and footprint data. In combination with a comparative reappraisal of the Site G footprints, the evidence collected here embodies very important additions to the Pliocene record of hominin behaviour and morphology. Our results are consistent with considerable body size variation and, probably, degree of sexual dimorphism within a single species of bipedal hominins as early as 3.66 million years ago.

Commissioned to ALES spa by the Ministry of Culture (MiC), the e-Archeo project was born with the intention of enhancing and promoting knowledge of some Italian archaeological sites with a considerable narrative potential that has not yet been fully expressed. The main principle that guided the choice of the sites and the contents was of illustrating the various cultures and types of settlements present in the Italian territory. Eight sites were chosen, spread across the national territory from north to south, founded by Etruscans, Greeks, Phoenicians, natives and Romans. e-Archeo has developed multimedia, integrated and multi-channel solutions for various uses and types of audiences, adopting both scientific and narrative and emotional languages. Particular attention was paid to multimedia accessibility, technological sustainability and open science. The e-Archeo project was born from a strong synergy between public entities, research bodies and private industries thanks to the collaboration of MiC and ALES with the CNR ISPC, 10 Italian Universities, 12 Creative Industries and the Italian National Television (RAI). This exceptional and unusual condition made it possible to realise all the project’s high-quality contents and several outputs in only one and a half years.

Keywords: Mini UAVs, architectonic survey, façade acquisition, data comparison, instrument validation The survey of historical façades contains several bottlenecks, mainly related to the geometrical structure, the decorative framework, the presence of natural or artificial obstacles, the environment limitations. Urban context presents additional restrictions, binding by ground acquisition activity and leading to building data loss. The integration of TLS and close-range photogrammetry allows to go over such stuff, not overcoming the shadows effect due to the ground point of view. In the last year the massive use of UAVs in survey activity has permitted to enlarge survey capabilities, reaching a deeper knowledge in the architecture analysis. In the meanwhile, several behaviour rules have been introduced in different countries, regulating the UAVs use in different field, strongly restricting their application in urban areas. Recently very small and light platforms have been presented, which can partially overcome these rules restrictions, opening to very interesting future scenarios. This article presents the application of one of these very small RPAS (less than 300 g), equipped with a low-cost camera, in a close range photogrammetric survey of an historical building façade in Bologna (Italy). The suggested analysis tries to point out the system accuracy and details acquisition capacity. The final aim of the paper is to validate the application of this new platform in an architectonic survey pipeline, widening the future application of close-range photogrammetry in the architecture acquisition process.

Augmented Reality (AR) represents a growing communication channel, responding to the need to expand reality with additional information, offering easy and engaging access to digital data. AR for architectural representation allows a simple interaction with 3D models, facilitating spatial understanding of complex volumes and topological relationships between parts, overcoming some limitations related to Virtual Reality. In the last decade different developments in the pipeline process have seen a significant advancement in technological and algorithmic aspects, paying less attention to 3D modeling generation. For this, the article explores the construction of basic geometries for 3D model’s generation, highlighting the relationship between geometry and topology, basic for a consistent normal distribution. Moreover, a critical evaluation about corrective paths of existing 3D models is presented, analysing a complex architectural case study, the virtual model of Villa del Verginese, an emblematic example for topological emerged problems. The final aim of the paper is to refocus attention on 3D model construction, suggesting some "good practices" useful for preventing, minimizing or correcting topological problems, extending the accessibility of AR to people engaged in architectural representation.

The documentation of built heritage involves tangible and intangible features. Several morphological and metric aspects of architectural structures are acquired throughout a massive data capture system, such as the Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) and the Structure from Motion (SfM) technique. They produce models that give information about the skin of architectural organism. Infrared Thermography (IRT) is one of the techniques used to investigate what is beyond the external layer. This technology is particularly significant in the diagnostics and conservation of the built heritage. In archaeology, the integration of data acquired through different sensors improves the analysis and the interpretation of findings that are incomplete or transformed. Starting from a topographic and photogrammetric survey, the procedure here proposed aims to combine the bidimensional IRT data together with the 3D point cloud. This system helps to overcome the Field of View (FoV) of each IRT image and provides a three-dimensional reading of the thermal behaviour of the object. This approach is based on the geometric constraints of the pair of RGB-IR images coming from two different sensors mounted inside a bi-camera commercial device. Knowing the approximate distance between the two sensors, and making the necessary simplifications allowed by the low resolution of the thermal sensor, we projected the colour of the IR images to the RGB point cloud. The procedure was applied is the so-called Nymphaeum of Egeria, an archaeological structure in the Caffarella Park (Rome, Italy), which is currently part of the Appia Antica Regional Park.