This study introduces a methodology for the improvement of the visibility of archaeological features using an open-source probabilistic machine learning framework applied to UAV LiDAR data from the Torre Castiglione site in Apulia, Italy. By leveraging a Random Forest classification algorithm embedded in an open-source software, the approach processes dense LiDAR point clouds to segment out vegetation from the ground and the structures. Key steps include training the classifier, generating digital terrain models, digital feature models, and digital surface models, and enhancing the visibility of archaeological features. This method has proven effective in improving the interpretation of archaeological sites, revealing previously hidden or difficult-to-access microtopographic and structural details, such as the defensive structures, terraces, and ancient paths of the Torre Castiglione site. The results underline this methodology’s ease of use in uncovering archaeological landscapes under a dense canopy. Moreover, the study emphasises the benefits of using open-source tools to enhance the documentation and analysis of remote or difficult archaeological sites.

This Gulf of Manfredonia has, for millennia, been the primary water feature of the coastal wetland of Northern Apulia, Italy, although modern reclamation works make writing its long-term history challenging. Our recent paleoenvironmental research has reconstructed the evolution of the southern half of this lagoon since the Neolithic period. Here, we write a history of water management and environmental change in this landscape from the perspective of two key urban sites: pre-Roman Salpia vetus and Roman Salapia. The Roman architectural historian Vitruvius recounts the abandonment of Salpia vetus and the refoundation of Salapia. We employ his narrative as a frame for a more complex environmental history, starting from a historiography of this landscape’s study and a summary of our interdisciplinary research agenda, which unifies environmental, topographical, remote sensing, and archaeological approaches. Resilience in this changeable wetland environment was only possible through an integrated and intentional management of water among rivers, the lagoon, and the Adriatic Sea. While Salpia vetus exploited this wetland and thrived for centuries, the settlement eventually collapsed due to human and environmentally impelled factors. Roman Salapia subsequently emerged with a different approach, new infrastructure, and a new location. This blueprint would sustain urban life in this wetland for six centuries and lay the groundwork for the Medieval town.

À travers l’analyse de deux cas d’études, l’article se propose de réfléchir à l’impulsion économique territoriale engendrée par la disponibilité du sel, notamment dans les domaines de l’élevage et de la production de peaux et de textiles. En particulier, l’article examine le paysage, les traces archéologiques et les documents connus, sur la longue durée, pour deux aires des Pouilles actuelles : les marais qui entouraient la ville de Tarente et la lagune de Salpi. Dans le cas de Tarente, la présence du sel, presque complètement ignorée dans les études sur la cité antique, apparaît au contraire comme un élément structurant du peuplement et des activités économiques (production textile) depuis la protohistoire jusqu’à l’époque médiévale. Dans le cas de Salpi, l’importance du sel, témoignée par le paysage, par les toponymes et par les documents (cadastres, actes de propriété), est maintenant confirmée de façon indirecte, par la découverte d’un atelier pour le travail du cuir (officina coriaria), actif entre les II^e et IV^e siècles.