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Funerary landscapes are eminent results of the relationship between environments and superstructural human behavior, spanning over wide territories and growing over centuries. The comprehension of such cultural palimpsests needs substantial research efforts in the field of human ecology. The funerary landscape of the semi-arid region of Kassala (Eastern Sudan) represents a solid example. Therein, geoarchaeological surveys and the creation of a desk-based dataset of thousands of diachronic funerary monuments (from early tumuli up to modern Beja people islamic tombs) were achieved by means of fieldwork and remote sensing over an area of ∼4100 km2. The wealth of generated information was employed to decipher the spatial arrangement of sites and monuments using Point Pattern Analysis. The enormous number of monuments and their spatial distribution are here successfully explained using, for the first time in archaeology, the Neyman-Scott Cluster Process, hitherto designed for cosmology. Our study highlights the existence of a built funerary landscape with galaxy-like aggregations of monuments driven by multiple layers of societal behavior. We suggest that the distribution of monuments was controlled by a synthesis of opportunistic geological constraints and cultural superstructure, conditioned by the social memory of the Beja people who have inhabited the region for two thousand years and still cherish the ancient tombs as their own kin’s.
Stefano Costanzo; Filippo Brandolini; Habab Idriss Ahmed; Andrea Zerboni; Andrea Manzo. Creating the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan. PLOS ONE 2021, 16, e0253511 .
AMA StyleStefano Costanzo, Filippo Brandolini, Habab Idriss Ahmed, Andrea Zerboni, Andrea Manzo. Creating the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan. PLOS ONE. 2021; 16 (7):e0253511.
Chicago/Turabian StyleStefano Costanzo; Filippo Brandolini; Habab Idriss Ahmed; Andrea Zerboni; Andrea Manzo. 2021. "Creating the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan." PLOS ONE 16, no. 7: e0253511.
We present the geomorphological map of the northwestern part of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, where the landscape expresses the tectonic activity associated with the Arabia-Eurasia convergence and Neogene climate change. These processes influenced the evolution of landforms and fluvial pathways, where major rivers Tigris, Khabur, and Great Zab incise the landscape of Northeastern Mesopotamia Anticlinal ridges and syncline trough compose the Zagros orogen. The development of water and wind gaps, slope, and karsts processes in the highlands and the tilting of fluvial terraces in the flat areas are the main evidence of the relationship between tectonics, climate variations and geomorphological processes. During the Quaternary, especially after the Last Glacial Maximum, fluctuating arid and wet periods also influenced local landforms and fluvial patterns of the area. Finally, the intensified Holocene human occupation and agricultural activities during the passage to more complex societies over time impacted the evolution of the landscape in this part of Mesopotamia.
Luca Forti; Alessandro Perego; Filippo Brandolini; Guido S. Mariani; Mjahid Zebari; Kathleen Nicoll; Eleonora Regattieri; Cecilia Conati Barbaro; Daniele Morandi Bonacossi; Hasan Ahmed Qasim; Mauro Cremaschi; Andrea Zerboni. Geomorphology of the northwestern Kurdistan Region of Iraq: landscapes of the Zagros Mountains drained by the Tigris and Great Zab Rivers. Journal of Maps 2021, 1 -12.
AMA StyleLuca Forti, Alessandro Perego, Filippo Brandolini, Guido S. Mariani, Mjahid Zebari, Kathleen Nicoll, Eleonora Regattieri, Cecilia Conati Barbaro, Daniele Morandi Bonacossi, Hasan Ahmed Qasim, Mauro Cremaschi, Andrea Zerboni. Geomorphology of the northwestern Kurdistan Region of Iraq: landscapes of the Zagros Mountains drained by the Tigris and Great Zab Rivers. Journal of Maps. 2021; ():1-12.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLuca Forti; Alessandro Perego; Filippo Brandolini; Guido S. Mariani; Mjahid Zebari; Kathleen Nicoll; Eleonora Regattieri; Cecilia Conati Barbaro; Daniele Morandi Bonacossi; Hasan Ahmed Qasim; Mauro Cremaschi; Andrea Zerboni. 2021. "Geomorphology of the northwestern Kurdistan Region of Iraq: landscapes of the Zagros Mountains drained by the Tigris and Great Zab Rivers." Journal of Maps , no. : 1-12.
The necessity of sustainable development for landscapes has emerged as an important theme in recent decades. Current methods take a holistic approach to landscape heritage and promote an interdisciplinary dialogue to facilitate complementary landscape management strategies. With the socio-economic values of the “natural” and “cultural” landscape heritage increasingly recognised worldwide, remote sensing tools are being used more and more to facilitate the recording and management of landscape heritage. Satellite remote sensing technologies have enabled significant improvements in landscape research. The advent of the cloud-based platform of Google Earth Engine (GEE) has allowed the rapid exploration and processing of satellite imagery such as the Landsat and Copernicus Sentinel datasets. In this paper, the use of Sentinel-2 satellite data in the identification of palaeo-riverscape features has been assessed in the Po Plain, selected because it is characterized by human exploitation since the Mid-Holocene. A multi-temporal approach has been adopted to investigate the potential of satellite imagery to detect buried hydrological and anthropogenic features along with spectral index and spectral decomposition analysis. This research represents one of the first applications of the GEE Python application programming interface (API) in landscape studies. The complete free and open-source software (FOSS) cloud protocol proposed here consists of a Python code script developed in Google Colab which could be simply adapted and replicated in different areas of the world.
Filippo Brandolini; Guillem Domingo-Ribas; Andrea Zerboni; Sam Turner. A Google Earth Engine-enabled Python approach to improve identification of anthropogenic palaeo-landscape features. Open Research Europe 2021, 1, 22 .
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Guillem Domingo-Ribas, Andrea Zerboni, Sam Turner. A Google Earth Engine-enabled Python approach to improve identification of anthropogenic palaeo-landscape features. Open Research Europe. 2021; 1 ():22.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Guillem Domingo-Ribas; Andrea Zerboni; Sam Turner. 2021. "A Google Earth Engine-enabled Python approach to improve identification of anthropogenic palaeo-landscape features." Open Research Europe 1, no. : 22.
The necessity of sustainable development for landscapes has emerged as an important theme in recent decades. Moreover, past landscape reconstruction enables a better understanding of human resilience to climatic and environmental changes in different periods and locations, and illustrates examples of sustainable development in the past. Free and open-source (FOSS) datasets of satellite imagery offer considerable opportunities for landscape heritage stakeholders both for recording and monitoring activities. In this research, a completely FOSS-cloud procedure to enhance the detection of palaeo-landscape features is presented. Sentinel - 2 satellite imagery has been retrieved in the Google Earth Engine dataset collection and analysed through a Python script code realized in Google Colaboratory. A multi-temporal approach has been adopted to investigate the potential of satellite imagery to detect buried features along with Spectral Index (i.e., RGB, False Short Wave Infrared Colour and Bare Soil Index) and Spectral Decomposition analysis (i.e., Hue, Saturation and Value, Tasselled Cap Transformation and Principal Component Analysis). This procedure has been tested in the Po Plain (Northern Italy), chosen because it is characterized by human-landscape interaction since the Mid-Holocene. Thanks to its complex settlement and land-management history, the Po Plain represents an ideal laboratory to assess the potentiality of satellite imagery to enhance riverscapes’ palaeo-features. The outputs obtained can be visualized directly in the Google Colaboratory browser or downloaded via Google Drive for further graphical applications or spatial analysis. The buried features detected have been checked through the available geomorphological and archaeological literature; published case studies interpreting the occurrence of buried features served as a benchmark to validate the script code developed. This research represents one of the first applications of the GEE Python API in landscape studies. The main advantages of this procedure consist of: i) being FOSS, all the software used here are open-licensed; ii) working in cloud, no powerful hardware is necessary to run the script code; iii) high adaptability, changing the ROI is possible to calculate SI and SD outputs for any area of the world; iv) very basic coding skills are required to adapt the code to a ROI with different environmental characteristics. The development of FOSS-cloud procedures could support the identification, conservation and management of cultural and natural heritage anywhere around the world. In remote areas or where local heritage is threatened as a result of political instability, climate change or other factors, FOSS-cloud protocols can facilitate the application of new scientific methods and enable the dissemination of and access to scientific information.
Filippo Brandolini; Guillem Domingo-Ribas; Andrea Zerboni; Sam Turner. Enhancing the detection of buried anthropogenic features thought a cloud-computing Python procedure. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Guillem Domingo-Ribas, Andrea Zerboni, Sam Turner. Enhancing the detection of buried anthropogenic features thought a cloud-computing Python procedure. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Guillem Domingo-Ribas; Andrea Zerboni; Sam Turner. 2021. "Enhancing the detection of buried anthropogenic features thought a cloud-computing Python procedure." , no. : 1.
Located along the Tigris River in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), the Mosul Dam reservoir is the second biggest dam of the Near East, and represents an important water storage for local human activities. The Dam was built between 1981 and 1988 north of the village of Eski Mosul; along this part of the Tigris River several archaeological sites were inundated. Analysis of historical images derived from Declassified Corona satellite acquired between December 1967 and August 1968 reveals seasonal changes of the Tigris riverbed, shifting across the hydrological year from meandering to anastomosing. The geomorphological mapping was carried out on the December 1967 and. in August 1968, Corona images were taken, in order to estimate the modification of several fluvial geomorphological elements such as floodplain and point, middle and longitudinal bars. Here, such evidence is compared with Landsat data collected between the 1990ies and today, in order to detect the first phases of filling of the basin and the control of inherited Tigris channel belt over the reservoir. Moreover, we also noticed an influence of the ancient Tigris course on is recent insertion into the lake. Our work permitted to reconstruct the ancient fluvial landscape below the Mosul Dam Lake, and its evolution in response to seasonal variation of the discharge.
Luca Forti; Andrea Pezzotta; Eleonora Regattieri; Guido Stefano Mariani; Filippo Brandolini; Andrea Zerboni. Below the Mosul Dam Lake. Geomorphological reconstruction of historical fluvial pattern of the Tigris River . 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleLuca Forti, Andrea Pezzotta, Eleonora Regattieri, Guido Stefano Mariani, Filippo Brandolini, Andrea Zerboni. Below the Mosul Dam Lake. Geomorphological reconstruction of historical fluvial pattern of the Tigris River . . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLuca Forti; Andrea Pezzotta; Eleonora Regattieri; Guido Stefano Mariani; Filippo Brandolini; Andrea Zerboni. 2021. "Below the Mosul Dam Lake. Geomorphological reconstruction of historical fluvial pattern of the Tigris River ." , no. : 1.
Monumental funerary landscapes are paramount representations of the relationship between environment and superstructural human behavior. Their formation sometimes requires millennia and they cover wide territories, often adding up to complex palimpsests of monuments belonging to different time periods. In this regard, the funerary landscape of the semi-arid foothill region of Kassala (Eastern Sudan) represents a solid example. Therein, a comprehensive geoarchaeological investigation conducted by means of field survey and remote sensing allowed the creation of a regional geomorphological base-map and a dataset of funerary monuments. The latter comprises several thousand raised stone-built tombs spanning from the early first millennium AD clusters of tumuli (belonging to the pan-African traditions) to regionally exclusive variants of medieval Islamic funerary architecture (qubbas). Funerary monuments are found as eye-catching scatters of hundreds of elements along the foothills of the many rocky outcrops dotting the pediplain of the western periphery of the Eritrean Highlands. In this study, the two categories of monuments were not considered as separate burialscapes, but rather examined as a unique, diachronic funerary landscape in its relationship with the geological and geomorphological settings and constraints. Point Pattern Analysis (PPA) was employed to determine the main environmental drivers of their locations on a regional scale, as well as to assess the existence of superstructural factors acting on their aggregation at the local scale. Our results strongly suggest the presence of a geological/environmental/societal synthesis underlying the choice of monuments’ location: at the regional scale, the pattern follows a precise set of rules residing in the concomitant presence of stable, gently rolling slopes and available metamorphic rock slabs; at the local scale, the clustering is heavily conditioned by superstructural dynamics that most likely reside in kinship and collective social memory of local Beja people. We suggest that the creation of the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan is the result of a repeated and well coded social behavior of the Beja people, semi-nomadic cattle breeders known to have inhabited the region since “time immemorial”. Despite their mobile lifestyle and cultural contact with other North African and Arabic cultures, the monumental palimpsest portrays how the funerary habits of this millennia-old society persisted almost undisturbed, valuing location and kinship over external influences.
Stefano Costanzo; Filippo Brandolini; Habab Idriss Ahmed; Andrea Zerboni; Andrea Manzo. Bedrock, foothills and kinship: reconstructing the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleStefano Costanzo, Filippo Brandolini, Habab Idriss Ahmed, Andrea Zerboni, Andrea Manzo. Bedrock, foothills and kinship: reconstructing the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleStefano Costanzo; Filippo Brandolini; Habab Idriss Ahmed; Andrea Zerboni; Andrea Manzo. 2021. "Bedrock, foothills and kinship: reconstructing the funerary landscape of Eastern Sudan." , no. : 1.
Khartoum is one of the largest cities in Africa, located immediately south of the junction of the Blue and White Nile rivers in central Sudan. The growth of the Greater Khartoum-Omdurman conurbation arose – without a proper urban plan – from the agricultural wealth created through the completion of three dams, and mostly in the last three decades. Urban expansion was enabled by and helped to enhance the major agricultural expansion of the Gezira clay plains located to the south between the lower Blue and White Nile rivers. The region has been a focus of human settlement for at least 8,000 years, initially by semi-sedentary groups with a fishing-hunting-gathering lifestyle and later by Neolithic groups as shown by hundreds of archaeological sites. Today, Khartoum is a desert city, still very vulnerable to floods triggered by intense convectional storms. Such extreme events may become more common in future, representing a major geomorphological hazard. Moreover, uncontrolled urban and agricultural development is threatening most of the cultural heritage of the region.
Andrea Zerboni; Filippo Brandolini; Guido S. Mariani; Alessandro Perego; Sandro Salvatori; Donatella Usai; Manuela Pelfini; Martin A.J. Williams. The Khartoum-Omdurman conurbation: a growing megacity at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers. Journal of Maps 2020, 1 -14.
AMA StyleAndrea Zerboni, Filippo Brandolini, Guido S. Mariani, Alessandro Perego, Sandro Salvatori, Donatella Usai, Manuela Pelfini, Martin A.J. Williams. The Khartoum-Omdurman conurbation: a growing megacity at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers. Journal of Maps. 2020; ():1-14.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Zerboni; Filippo Brandolini; Guido S. Mariani; Alessandro Perego; Sandro Salvatori; Donatella Usai; Manuela Pelfini; Martin A.J. Williams. 2020. "The Khartoum-Omdurman conurbation: a growing megacity at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile Rivers." Journal of Maps , no. : 1-14.
Filippo Brandolini. Late-Holocene Human Resilience in a Fluvial Environment: A Geoarchaeological Dataset for the Central Po Plain (N Italy). Journal of Open Archaeology Data 2020, 8, 1 .
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini. Late-Holocene Human Resilience in a Fluvial Environment: A Geoarchaeological Dataset for the Central Po Plain (N Italy). Journal of Open Archaeology Data. 2020; 8 (1):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini. 2020. "Late-Holocene Human Resilience in a Fluvial Environment: A Geoarchaeological Dataset for the Central Po Plain (N Italy)." Journal of Open Archaeology Data 8, no. 1: 1.
In fluvial environments, alluvial geomorphological features had a huge influence on settlement strategies during the Holocene. However, a few projects investigate this topic through quantitative and question-driven analyses of the human-landscape correlation. The Po Valley (N Italy) – located between the Mediterranean regions and continental Europe – is as a key area for the investigation of environmental and cultural influences on settlement strategies since prehistoric times. For instance, the transition from Roman to Medieval times represented a crucial moment for the reorganisation of human settlement strategies in the Po Valley; the process was mainly driven by climate changes and socio-political factors. Spatial Point Pattern Analysis (SPPA) was here employed to provide a solid statistical assessment of these dynamics in the two historical phases. A point pattern (PP) corresponds to the location of spatial events generated by a stochastic process within a bounded region. The density of the PP is proportional to the intensity of the underlying process. The intensity, in turn, can be constant within the region or spatially variable, thus influencing the uniformity of distribution of spatial events. SPPA provides powerful techniques for the statistical analysis of PP data that consist of a complete set of locations of archaeological sites/findings within an observation window. The use of spatial covariates enables the investigation of environmental and non-environmental factors influencing the spatial homogeneity of the point process. Archaeologists have increasingly analyzed such datasets to quantify the characteristics of observed spatial patterns with the aims of deriving hypotheses on the underlying processes or testing hypotheses derived from archaeological theory. The aim of this paper is to assess whether a shift in water management strategies between the Roman and Medieval periods influenced the spatial distribution of settlements, and to evaluate the relative importance of agricultural suitability over flood risks in each historical phase. In particular, the variability settlement patterns between Roman and Medieval phases has been assessed against two related proxies for alluvial geomorphology and agricultural suitability: flood hazard and soil texture. The SPPA performed shows that Roman and Medieval settlement patterns mirror two different human responses to the geomorphological dynamics of the area. Roman land- and water-management were able to minimize the flood hazard, to drain the floodplain and organize a complex land use on different soil types. In the Medieval period, the alluvial geomorphology of the area, characterised by wide swampy meadows and frequent flood events, affected the spatial organisation of settlement, which privileged topographically prominent positions. Social and cultural dynamics played a crucial role in responding to alluvial geomorphological environmental challenges in different times.
Filippo Brandolini; Francesco Carrer. Investigate human responses to Late-Holocene changes of fluvial landforms through Spatial Point Pattern Analysis (Po Plain, N Italy). 2020, 1 .
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Francesco Carrer. Investigate human responses to Late-Holocene changes of fluvial landforms through Spatial Point Pattern Analysis (Po Plain, N Italy). . 2020; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Francesco Carrer. 2020. "Investigate human responses to Late-Holocene changes of fluvial landforms through Spatial Point Pattern Analysis (Po Plain, N Italy)." , no. : 1.
Fluvial environments represent complex human-water systems, as floodplains have always been among the most suitable environments for human subsistence. In this paper, we present one of the first attempts to investigate human adaptation to fluvial environments in the past using spatial statistics (Point Pattern Analysis). In particular, the paper addresses the influence of alluvial geomorphology on the settlement strategies in the Po plain (Northern Italy) during the Roman and the Medieval Period. The transition from Roman to the Middle Ages represented a crucial phase for the reorganisation of human settlement strategies in the Po Valley. The collapse of Roman hydrological systems in association with a cooling climate phase triggered waterlogging process in a large portion of the farmland: swamps became the typical features of the Medieval landscape. This paper aims to assess if the different water management strategies in the Roman and Medieval periods influenced the spatial distribution of sites, and to evaluate the relative importance of agricultural suitability over flood risks in the two historical phases. This research contributes to quantifying how the socio-political factors of past societies played a key role in human resilience to geomorphological hazards related to alluvial contexts and exceptional floods triggered by climate changes.
Filippo Brandolini; Francesco Carrer. Terra, Silva et Paludes. Assessing the Role of Alluvial Geomorphology for Late-Holocene Settlement Strategies (Po Plain – N Italy) Through Point Pattern Analysis. Environmental Archaeology 2020, 26, 511 -525.
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Francesco Carrer. Terra, Silva et Paludes. Assessing the Role of Alluvial Geomorphology for Late-Holocene Settlement Strategies (Po Plain – N Italy) Through Point Pattern Analysis. Environmental Archaeology. 2020; 26 (5):511-525.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Francesco Carrer. 2020. "Terra, Silva et Paludes. Assessing the Role of Alluvial Geomorphology for Late-Holocene Settlement Strategies (Po Plain – N Italy) Through Point Pattern Analysis." Environmental Archaeology 26, no. 5: 511-525.
The interaction between geomorphological processes and anthropogenic activities produces an impressive association of geomorphological and archaeological heritage in urban contexts. We analyzed the urban geomorphology and the geo- and cultural heritage in the town of Pavia (N Italy). The city is located in a strategic position, on a series of fluvial terraces where the Romans founded a colony, probably in the place of an Iron Age Gaul settlement. In Medieval Times and the Modern Era, Pavia sprawled outside the Roman walls, creating new urban areas and modifying the landscape. Geomorphological and GIS-spatial analyses integrated with anthropic landform surveying, archaeological data and historical cartography were performed. This multi-disciplinary approach allowed an investigation into how urban development was firstly adapted and then superimposed onto fluvial landforms. As a result, a flexible geocultural itinerary is proposed for linking geoheritage with cultural heritage, and for disseminating urban geomorphology key-concepts.
Manuela Pelfini; Filippo Brandolini; Sara D’Archi; Luisa Pellegrini; Irene Bollati. Papia civitas gloriosa: urban geomorphology for a thematic itinerary on geocultural heritage in Pavia (Central Po Plain, N Italy). Journal of Maps 2020, 1 -9.
AMA StyleManuela Pelfini, Filippo Brandolini, Sara D’Archi, Luisa Pellegrini, Irene Bollati. Papia civitas gloriosa: urban geomorphology for a thematic itinerary on geocultural heritage in Pavia (Central Po Plain, N Italy). Journal of Maps. 2020; ():1-9.
Chicago/Turabian StyleManuela Pelfini; Filippo Brandolini; Sara D’Archi; Luisa Pellegrini; Irene Bollati. 2020. "Papia civitas gloriosa: urban geomorphology for a thematic itinerary on geocultural heritage in Pavia (Central Po Plain, N Italy)." Journal of Maps , no. : 1-9.
The Upper Rhone Valley (Valais, Switzerland) has been heavily modified over the past 200 years by human activity and natural processes. A qualitative analysis of the morphological and land-use evolution of the Rhone River floodplain since the end of the eighteenth century was carried out using historical maps from 1780 to 1860 processed with Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Geographical Information System (GIS) tools. This study aims to produce a long-term analysis of river management and land-use change in a stretch of the Upper Rhone Valley around the town of Sion based on a time series of maps, realised in the years 1780–1802, 1820–1845, 1847, 1850s, 1852–1857, 1859–1860. The historical maps were digitised, and for each of the corresponding periods, a map was produced within a GIS. The comparison of the maps was completed by using documentary sources or subsequent studies. With the intention to identify the fluvial landscape changes and past river management, six multitemporal maps were produced. Finally, this research aims to provide helpful diachronic information for planning a future sustainable landscape development in Valais.
Filippo Brandolini; Emmanuel Reynard; Manuela Pelfini. Multi-temporal mapping of the Upper Rhone Valley (Valais, Switzerland): fluvial landscape changes at the end of the Little Ice Age (18th–19th centuries). Journal of Maps 2020, 16, 212 -221.
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Emmanuel Reynard, Manuela Pelfini. Multi-temporal mapping of the Upper Rhone Valley (Valais, Switzerland): fluvial landscape changes at the end of the Little Ice Age (18th–19th centuries). Journal of Maps. 2020; 16 (2):212-221.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Emmanuel Reynard; Manuela Pelfini. 2020. "Multi-temporal mapping of the Upper Rhone Valley (Valais, Switzerland): fluvial landscape changes at the end of the Little Ice Age (18th–19th centuries)." Journal of Maps 16, no. 2: 212-221.
We present the results of the geomorphological mapping of a region of the Dhofar (Sultanate of Oman) including two contrasting physiographic units sharing a common drainage system into the Arabian Sea: the Jebel Qara limestone massif and the coastal plain of Salalah. Neogene to Quaternary tectonic activity controlled the formation of an extensive system of faults and caused the uplift of the Jebel Qara, forming structural escarpments. The massif underwent karstification and subsequent linear erosion. Today the Jebel is cut by a dendritic net of dry valleys, occasionally dammed by calcareous tufa dams. The transition between the southern escarpment of the Jebel and the plain below displays flat alluvial fans, bordered by a strip of beachrock, coastal dunes, and coastal lagoons, located in correspondence to estuaries. Dramatic soil erosion is evident, linked to intense human-triggered zoogeomorphological processes started in the Mid-Late Holocene after the introduction of pastoral land-use.
Andrea Zerboni; Alessandro Perego; Guido S. Mariani; Filippo Brandolini; Mohammed Al Kindi; Eleonora Regattieri; Giovanni Zanchetta; Federico Borgi; Vincent Charpentier; Mauro Cremaschi. Geomorphology of the Jebel Qara and coastal plain of Salalah (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman). Journal of Maps 2020, 16, 187 -198.
AMA StyleAndrea Zerboni, Alessandro Perego, Guido S. Mariani, Filippo Brandolini, Mohammed Al Kindi, Eleonora Regattieri, Giovanni Zanchetta, Federico Borgi, Vincent Charpentier, Mauro Cremaschi. Geomorphology of the Jebel Qara and coastal plain of Salalah (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman). Journal of Maps. 2020; 16 (2):187-198.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Zerboni; Alessandro Perego; Guido S. Mariani; Filippo Brandolini; Mohammed Al Kindi; Eleonora Regattieri; Giovanni Zanchetta; Federico Borgi; Vincent Charpentier; Mauro Cremaschi. 2020. "Geomorphology of the Jebel Qara and coastal plain of Salalah (Dhofar, southern Sultanate of Oman)." Journal of Maps 16, no. 2: 187-198.
Historical documents represent a significant part of the world cultural heritage and need to be preserved from physical deformation due to ageing. The restoration of fragile documents requires economic resources that are often limited to only preserve the integrity of exceptional and highly valuable historical records. On the other hand, regeneration of ancient documents in digital form is a useful way to preserve them regardless of the material they are made of. In addition, the digitization of historical cartography allows creating a valuable dataset for a variety of GIS applications as well as spatial and landscape studies. Nonetheless, historical maps are usually deformed, and a contact-scanning process could damage them because this method requires planar positioning of the map. In this regard, photogrammetry has been used successfully as a non-invasive method to digitize historical documentation. The purpose of this research is to assess a low-cost and highly flexible strategy to digitize historical maps and documents through digital photogrammetry using low-cost commercial off-the-shelf sensors. This methodology allows training a wider audience of cultural heritage operators in digitizing historic records with a millimeter-level accuracy.
Filippo Brandolini; Giacomo Patrucco. Structure-from-Motion (SFM) Photogrammetry as a Non-Invasive Methodology to Digitalize Historical Documents: A Highly Flexible and Low-Cost Approach? Heritage 2019, 2, 2124 -2136.
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Giacomo Patrucco. Structure-from-Motion (SFM) Photogrammetry as a Non-Invasive Methodology to Digitalize Historical Documents: A Highly Flexible and Low-Cost Approach? Heritage. 2019; 2 (3):2124-2136.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Giacomo Patrucco. 2019. "Structure-from-Motion (SFM) Photogrammetry as a Non-Invasive Methodology to Digitalize Historical Documents: A Highly Flexible and Low-Cost Approach?" Heritage 2, no. 3: 2124-2136.
The preservation of rock art in open-air contexts is a global issue controlled by several environmental processes, which are less investigated than the cultural significance of engravings and paintings. For that reason, we discuss the age, preservation, and palaeoenvironmental context of petroglyphs discovered on the flat, almost vertical face of a large boulder fallen along the western slope of Jabal Hammah, a rocky hill that borders the oasis of Salut (northern Sultanate of Oman). Geoarchaeological investigation highlighted that in the region the preservation of petroglyphs is due to the interplay of two contrasting weathering processes. On one hand, karst dissolution – even if it is a very slow process in arid and semi-arid lands – gradually levels the surface of boulders. On the other hand, a biomineralized Mn- and Fe-rich rock varnish has developed inside the grooves of the engravings, thus sheltering them from extreme dissolution and promoting the preservation of the pristine shape of the representations. Moreover, organics trapped within the rock varnish have been radiocarbon dated to 2600 ± 60 uncal. years BP. This result allows establishing a limit ante quem for the production of these specific engravings and to root it to the Bronze or Iron Age exploitation of the area. This result is of particular relevance in a region where well-dated rock art is virtually absent. Today, the biogeochemical processes leading to the formation of the protective crust are almost inactive, and not consistent with the present dry environmental settings. Their occurrence is in accordance with other local palaeoclimatic record, and suggests Bronze and Iron Age climatic conditions wetter than today. A broader implication of our work is that it shows how a multidisciplinary approach to the study of rock art provides the opportunity of understanding the age of rock art and its paleoenvironmental significance. We demonstrate that physical, chemical and biological weathering processes are in charge of the preservation and/or destruction of rock art; such processes have to be seriously taken into account in projects of rock art field assessment.
Andrea Zerboni; Michele Degli Esposti; Ying-Li Wu; Filippo Brandolini; Guido Stefano Mariani; Federica Villa; Paolo Lotti; Francesca Cappitelli; Marzia Sasso; Agostino Rizzi; G. Diego Gatta; Mauro Cremaschi. Age, palaeoenvironment, and preservation of prehistoric petroglyphs on a boulder in the oasis of Salut (northern Sultanate of Oman). Quaternary International 2019, 572, 106 -119.
AMA StyleAndrea Zerboni, Michele Degli Esposti, Ying-Li Wu, Filippo Brandolini, Guido Stefano Mariani, Federica Villa, Paolo Lotti, Francesca Cappitelli, Marzia Sasso, Agostino Rizzi, G. Diego Gatta, Mauro Cremaschi. Age, palaeoenvironment, and preservation of prehistoric petroglyphs on a boulder in the oasis of Salut (northern Sultanate of Oman). Quaternary International. 2019; 572 ():106-119.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrea Zerboni; Michele Degli Esposti; Ying-Li Wu; Filippo Brandolini; Guido Stefano Mariani; Federica Villa; Paolo Lotti; Francesca Cappitelli; Marzia Sasso; Agostino Rizzi; G. Diego Gatta; Mauro Cremaschi. 2019. "Age, palaeoenvironment, and preservation of prehistoric petroglyphs on a boulder in the oasis of Salut (northern Sultanate of Oman)." Quaternary International 572, no. : 106-119.
Filippo Brandolini; Mauro Cremaschi; Manuela Pelfini. Correction to: Estimating the Potential of Archaeo-historical Data in the Definition of Geomorphosites and Geo-educational Itineraries in the Central Po Plain (N Italy). Geoheritage 2019, 11, 1397 -1397.
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Mauro Cremaschi, Manuela Pelfini. Correction to: Estimating the Potential of Archaeo-historical Data in the Definition of Geomorphosites and Geo-educational Itineraries in the Central Po Plain (N Italy). Geoheritage. 2019; 11 (4):1397-1397.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Mauro Cremaschi; Manuela Pelfini. 2019. "Correction to: Estimating the Potential of Archaeo-historical Data in the Definition of Geomorphosites and Geo-educational Itineraries in the Central Po Plain (N Italy)." Geoheritage 11, no. 4: 1397-1397.
The positioning and construction of castles in ancient times responded not only to strategic opportunity, but also to the issue of geomorphological risk. We investigated castles and strongholds built in the era of the Great Countess Matilda of Canossa in part of the northern Apennines (Italy), in order to study the relationship between their positioning and the distribution of geomorphological and geological hazards. We observe how the location of castles follows clear patterns of avoidance of potential hazards: castles are kept far from the main fault systems and stream networks, and are mainly at a safe distance from landslide- and badlands-susceptible terrains. The knowledge of Medieval communities on landscape hazards was sufficiently advanced to minimise risks, while maintaining the strategic value of fortifications.
Guido S. Mariani; Filippo Brandolini; Manuela Pelfini; Andrea Zerboni. Matilda’s castles, northern Apennines: geological and geomorphological constrains. Journal of Maps 2019, 15, 521 -529.
AMA StyleGuido S. Mariani, Filippo Brandolini, Manuela Pelfini, Andrea Zerboni. Matilda’s castles, northern Apennines: geological and geomorphological constrains. Journal of Maps. 2019; 15 (2):521-529.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuido S. Mariani; Filippo Brandolini; Manuela Pelfini; Andrea Zerboni. 2019. "Matilda’s castles, northern Apennines: geological and geomorphological constrains." Journal of Maps 15, no. 2: 521-529.
Alluvial plains represent preferable areas for human settling for their suitability to agriculture activities, and many studies strengthen the interpretation of floodplains as complex human–water systems. The Late Holocene development of the Central Po Plain has a long-lasting connection with anthropogenic activities. In the study area, human land and water management, in association with different Late Holocene climate phases, deeply affected the geomorphological evolution of the Central Po Plain. The geomorphological and archaeomorphological features detected in this study represent valuable datasets of information about the evolution of this portion of the Po Plain in the Late Holocene. This paper aims to quantify the potential of archaeological and historical data in contextualising the anthropogenic geomorphological features and reconstructing how man affected the natural geomorphological processes. Through a multi-disciplinary approach that combines archaeomorphological and geomorphological investigations, we identify visible and invisible landforms developed in four different historical periods, and that corresponds to potential “geoarchaeomorphosites”. In the study area, the modern landscape consists of a cultural palimpsest of four different palaeolandscape layers characterised by peculiar landforms. After an in-depth analysis of present and past geomorphic features deriving from the reciprocal interaction between human and floodplain dynamics since Prehistory, this study suggests geoconservation and valorisation practices. Finally, starting from potential geoarchaeomorphosites, four geo-educational itineraries are proposed to promote future geotourism projects of the area.
Brandolini Filippo; Mauro Cremaschi; Pelfini Manuela. Estimating the Potential of Archaeo-historical Data in the Definition of Geomorphosites and Geo-educational Itineraries in the Central Po Plain (N Italy). Geoheritage 2019, 11, 1371 -1396.
AMA StyleBrandolini Filippo, Mauro Cremaschi, Pelfini Manuela. Estimating the Potential of Archaeo-historical Data in the Definition of Geomorphosites and Geo-educational Itineraries in the Central Po Plain (N Italy). Geoheritage. 2019; 11 (4):1371-1396.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBrandolini Filippo; Mauro Cremaschi; Pelfini Manuela. 2019. "Estimating the Potential of Archaeo-historical Data in the Definition of Geomorphosites and Geo-educational Itineraries in the Central Po Plain (N Italy)." Geoheritage 11, no. 4: 1371-1396.
Mauro Cremaschi; Anna Maria Mercuri; Alessandra Benatti; Giovanna Bosi; Filippo Brandolini; Eleonora Clò; Assunta Florenzano; Elisa Furia; Guido Stefano Mariani; Marta Mazzanti; Maria Chiara Montecchi; Eleonora Rattighieri; Paola Torri; Andrea Zerboni. The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project: a Lesson of Sustainability from the Terramare Culture, Middle Bronze Age of the Po Plain (Northern Italy). Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, Natural Sciences in Archaeology 2018, IX, 221 -229.
AMA StyleMauro Cremaschi, Anna Maria Mercuri, Alessandra Benatti, Giovanna Bosi, Filippo Brandolini, Eleonora Clò, Assunta Florenzano, Elisa Furia, Guido Stefano Mariani, Marta Mazzanti, Maria Chiara Montecchi, Eleonora Rattighieri, Paola Torri, Andrea Zerboni. The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project: a Lesson of Sustainability from the Terramare Culture, Middle Bronze Age of the Po Plain (Northern Italy). Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, Natural Sciences in Archaeology. 2018; IX (2):221-229.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMauro Cremaschi; Anna Maria Mercuri; Alessandra Benatti; Giovanna Bosi; Filippo Brandolini; Eleonora Clò; Assunta Florenzano; Elisa Furia; Guido Stefano Mariani; Marta Mazzanti; Maria Chiara Montecchi; Eleonora Rattighieri; Paola Torri; Andrea Zerboni. 2018. "The SUCCESSO-TERRA Project: a Lesson of Sustainability from the Terramare Culture, Middle Bronze Age of the Po Plain (Northern Italy)." Interdisciplinaria Archaeologica, Natural Sciences in Archaeology IX, no. 2: 221-229.
Fluvial environments have always played a crucial role in human history. The necessity of fertile land and fresh water for agriculture has led populations to settle in floodplains more frequently than in other environments. Floodplains are complex human–water systems in which the mutual interaction between anthropogenic activities and environment affected the landscape development. In this paper, we analyzed the evolution of the Central Po Plain (Italy) during the Medieval period through a multi-proxy record of geomorphological, archaeological and historical data. The collapse of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD) coincided with a progressive waterlogging of large floodplain areas. The results obtained by this research shed new light on the consequences that Post-Roman land and water management activities had on landscape evolution. In particular, the exploitation of fluvial sediments through flood management practices had the effect of reclaiming the swamps, but also altered the natural geomorphological development of the area. Even so, the Medieval human activities were more in equilibrium with the natural system than with the later Renaissance large-scale land reclamation works that profoundly modified the landscape turning the wetland environment into the arable land visible today. The analysis of fluvial palaeoenvironments and their relation with past human activities can provide valuable indications for planning more sustainable urbanized alluvial landscapes in future.
Filippo Brandolini; Mauro Cremaschi. The Impact of Late Holocene Flood Management on the Central Po Plain (Northern Italy). Sustainability 2018, 10, 3968 .
AMA StyleFilippo Brandolini, Mauro Cremaschi. The Impact of Late Holocene Flood Management on the Central Po Plain (Northern Italy). Sustainability. 2018; 10 (11):3968.
Chicago/Turabian StyleFilippo Brandolini; Mauro Cremaschi. 2018. "The Impact of Late Holocene Flood Management on the Central Po Plain (Northern Italy)." Sustainability 10, no. 11: 3968.