The paper presents the integration of different 3D recording techniques and instruments to survey the archaeological area of Paestum (Italy). Paestum was included in the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1998, and still preserves the ruins of Greek and Roman times. Photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) acquisitions were integrated in order to exploit the advantages of the 3D surveying techniques and produce digital models, orthoimages, maps and other geometric representations useful for archaeological, architectural and cultural touristic purposes. The obtained 3D results are then compared to historical representations to show the high quality of such ancient manual drawings.

Situated on the left bank of the Sabato river, the city of Abellinum (Campania region, southern Italy) represents a tangible testimony to the influence of the Roman civilization in Irpinia. At the site, where the remains of the public area of the town are preserved, archaeological excavations unearthed a monumental Pompeian domus, likely owned by Marcus Vipsanius Primigenius, a freedman of Agrippa, son-in-law of Augustus. The rooms preserved fine wall paintings of 3rd and 4th Pompeian style, reflecting the social status of the owner. From four rooms overlooking the peristyle, eight specimens of decorated plasters were collected, and petrographic and spectroscopic analyses were carried out to investigate the plastering and painting technology. Thin sections of all plasters depicted a multilayer technology, although differences in mix designs of the supports were highlighted. Some samples are pozzolanic plasters, containing volcanic aggregate, others can be classified as cocciopesto because of the presence of ceramic fragments mixed to the volcanic aggregate. Finally, the presence of marble powder also permitted the identification of marmorino. Moreover, the pigments, applied using a fresco or lime-painting techniques, consist of pure or mixed Fe- and Cu-based pigments to obtain yellow, orange, red, pink, and blue decorations.

A detailed geoarchaeological study of the southern portion of the Sele river plain (Campania), and in particular of the area of Paestum which hosts the remnants of the famous Greek settlement Poseidonia, has been undertaken. Particular attention was paid to the reconstruction of the physical landscape at the moment when Poseidonia was founded, and to the environmental modifications which affected the vicinity of Paestum in historical times. Collected stratigraphic and archaeological data have allowed to reconstruct important landscape modifications related to the deposition of travertine by the Capodifiume stream in Holocene times. Archaeological data evidence that nearly all human activities were localised on travertine units whose deposition pre-dates the Greek settlement and which are represented, from north to south, by the Gaudo, Arcione, Paestum and Mancone units. Setting aside the Gaudo unit of pre-Holocene age and the Paestum unit which was also affected in Late Holocene times by further travertine deposition, yet to be investigated in detail, at least four distinct travertine units were deposited from the Middle Holocene onwards. These units are represented by the aforementioned Mancone and Arcione units (respectively of Middle Holocene and pre-Archaic age) and by the Spinazzo-Linora and Licinella units of Roman to sub-present age. Their distribution shows that, due to the deviations in the course of the Capodifiume stream, travertine deposition alternatively affected various zones located respectively north and south of the ancient city of Paestum, and the city itself, and significantly controlled man’s activities on the Paestum plain in prehistoric and historical times.

Pompeii Archaeological Park is the best laboratory for the study of the seismic site effects on cultural heritage: the ancient site was destroyed and buried by the 79 AD Vesuvian eruption and, furthermore, it was also affected by the 62–63 AD strong earthquake. Large sectors of the city were reconstructed after this earthquake while other parts were still under reconstruction when the fall-out and pyroclastic density currents of the eruption buried the Roman city. In order to evaluate the distribution of the damage and reconstructions due to the earthquake, detailed mappings of the structures were carried out using multidisciplinary approaches. In addition, analyses of the topographical features, subsoil stratigraphies, and geophysical surveys, responsible for local seismic amplification (site effects), allow us to define the sectors of the ancient city where the Amplification Factors (AFs) were the main ones responsible for damage. Selected areas and examples of compromised and reconstructed buildings show that the ancient topography and subsoil features (both lithological and seismic) are the main AFs. In particular, the damages caused by the 62–63 AD earthquakes seem to be mainly due to topographical factors such as steep scarps and slopes, ridges, peaks, and terraces, as well as to the major thickness of the soft sediments (loose volcanoclastic layers, paleosols, weathered lavas, and anthropogenic infillings) located over the well-lithified lavas. It is not uncommon to also have the combination of these two factors. For the first time, this multidisciplinary approach allows us to draw a seismic microzonation map for one of the most important archaeological sites of the world.

Activités de fouilles soutenues par : Centre Jean Bérard (USR 3133 CNRS-EFR), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (UMR 7041), Université de Salerne (Département des biens culturels) et Soprintendenza per i beni archeologici della Calabria. Durant l’été 2010, l’équipe franco-italienne a mené la deuxième campagne de fouille et de prospection archéologique à Laos-Marcellina (pour la première campagne et un état des recherches antérieures, Aversa et al. 2010). Nous rendons compte ici, d’une part...

Since 2001 the Aegialia Survey Project (A.S.P.) has sought to reconstruct the dynamics of human occupation in Aegialia, northern Achaea (Greece). In doing so it has followed a multidisciplinary approach, with the involvement of various skills and institutions.