The paper evidences the importance of old aerial and satellite photos of ancient topography studies, with examples concerning archaeological and geo-archaeological research conducted in Italy and Turkey, during a cooperation between the Ancient Topography, Archaeology and Remote Sensing Laboratory (AnTAReS Lab) of the Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage of the Italian National Research Council (IBAM-CNR) and the Ancient Topography and Photogrammetry Laboratory (LabTAF) of Salento University. The historical aerial photos, i.e. those before the big transformations of the 1950's and 1960's, and the space photos taken in the 1960's and 1970's, particularly useful for the Near East, represent a fundamental tool for the study of the territory. In many cases, in fact, they document landscapes that have been modified by urbanization, building of large infrastructures, transformations in the land use and diffusion of mechanized agricultural methods. Only through the detailed analysis of these aerial and space photos it is possible to recover a fundamental documentation concerning the existence, the location and the layout of archaeological evidence and paleo-environmental elements otherwise lost; so, their use during research is very important for the reconstruction of the ancient topography of urban and territorial contexts.

The paper concerns the very significant contribution of satellite ortho-images to archaeological research. The unavailability of cartography, updated or in adequate scale, is a recurring problem for archaeological research operating in urban and territorial contexts, and in the last years interesting experiences have been carried out with the use of satellite ortho-images; they can provide constant support to field work, both excavations and surveys, and to the management of data in archaeological GIS. As an example of this, the paper shows the results achieved by three research projects carried out by CNR-IBAM in the Near and Middle East, the Hierapolis of Phrygia Survey Project, the Tell Tuqan Survey Project and the Iraq Virtual Museum Project in which base-maps and cartographies satellite ortho-images have been widely used. In these projects, the use of very high resolution satellite images was necessary because large scale and updated cartographies and aerial photos are not available. In the examples shown, satellite ortho-images have different uses, often linked to the possibility or not of an accurate ortho-rectification, with the possibility of the collection of Ground Control Points and with the availability of high resolution DEMs. These images were used to create space-maps for the field work, as well as to realize and update archaeological maps and cartographies finalized to archaeological research. In the cases study presented, WorldView-1, QuickBird-2 and Ikonos-2 images, also stereo-pairs, were used.

Determining the provenance of the stones used for ancient architectures is very important in order to reconstruct many social and economic questions linked to the life of a city. This paper integrates previous and new archaeometric data about marble and alabaster quarries in south-western Phrygia (Lykos valley), and offers a review of some results of the research activities carried out between the years 2013–2018 and aimed to reconstruct the building stone procurement strategies adopted in the city of Hierapolis in Phrygia across a broad chronological time span from the Hellenistic age to the Byzantine period. The research activities based on a multidisciplinary approach, integrating the archaeological and art-historian study of the monuments, the topographical investigation of the quarries, and the archaeometric characterisation both of extraction sites and marbles and alabasters used in the building sites of the urban area and in the necropolises.

TResearch is aimed at the production of a tool that could be useful both for the reconstruction of the ancient urban planning and its development during the Greek, Roman and Medieval ages, and for the management and preservation of the archaeological heritage of Taormina; in fact, the new archaeological map could be included in policies aimed at an urban development that respects the existing ancient remains and promotes their enhancement of value. The paper concerns the research project started in 2009 and aimed at the production of the archaeological map of Tauromenion/Tauromenium, on which the modern Taormina lies. The project is carried out by the Department of Ancient and Modern Cultures of the University of Messina and the Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage of the Italian National Research Council, with the cooperation of the Archaeological Superintendence of the Province of Messina and the Archaeological Park of Giardini Naxos. The research project involves a context characterised by a long continuity of life during centuries and it is based on: 1) archaeological and topographical surveys using a differential GPS system and a total station; 2) systematic study and analysis of archival documentation, previous bibliographies and historical cartographies; 3) interpretation of aerial photos, in particular those taken between the years 1920s and 1940s, when some sectors of the ancient city and necropolises were not still covered by the extension of the modern town. All the collected data were georeferenced in a digital archaeological map, where all the ancient monuments and structures, both still visible and those re-buried after small-scale excavations, are integrated on a up-to-date large-scale vector cartography. The map is integrated in a web-oriented GIS platform developed using open source software and cloud computing solutions; it is aimed at the data management and sharing between the different institutions involved in the project. Therefore, the research is aimed at the production of a tool that could be useful both for the reconstruction of the ancient urban planning and its development during the Greek, Roman and Medieval ages, and for the management and preservation of the archaeological heritage of Taormina; in fact, the new archaeological map could be included in policies aimed at an urban development that respects the existing ancient remains and promotes their enhancement of value.

The paper concerns three research projects promoted during the last 20 years by the University of Tuscia, aimed at the reconstruction of the ancient topography of areas inside southern Etruria, between Viterbo and the Tiber river valley; they are based on the systematic exploration of the territory and the production of archaeological maps. Two of these works, regarding the Ager Ciminius and Bomarzo-Bassano-Mugnano areas were completed and published in the series Carta Archeologica d’Italia - Contributi; the title of the series relates to the first project in the archaeological mapping of the national territory, performed in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The third research project, still in progress, regards the territory surrounding Viterbo, and between the city itself and the ancient settlement of Ferento and Acquarossa. The research projects produced archaeological maps aimed at supporting both the reconstruction of historical processes in a diachronic perspective and the activities in preservation of the archaeological heritage conducted by the Soprintendenza Archeologica per l’Etruria Meridionale. The systematic research activities allowed the collection of many new data about the ancient topography of these areas from the Proto-historic Age to the Medieval period, across the Etruscan and Roman epochs. The settlement pattern, the necropolises, the road networks, the rural and productive activities were studied and reconstructed. In general, the new data are very numerous in comparison to those previously known. Moreover, field-walking also provided the opportunity to document the condition of preservation of the archaeological evidence. In particular, in the area surrounding Viterbo, many ancient remains damaged or destroyed by new urbanisation and infrastructures are documented (also in comparison to the data documented during the surveys performed in the same territory at the beginning of 1970s). In the other two study areas, the most numerous damages are produced by mechanised agricultural works.