Nicoló Dell'Unto

• Professor
• Professor (Full) at Lund University

This paper examines the profound impact of digital technology on Classical and Mediterranean archaeology, with a focus on digital field recording and infrastructures. Using the “Skeuomorphism of Practice” framework, it traces the integration of technology into our existing methodologies. The Swedish Pompeii Project is used as a case study to illust...

The authors of this paper reinvestigate the remains of the Basilica Sempronia, situated below the Imperial Basilica Julia in Rome. By combining the information from the original excavation with a new 3D digital documentation, new observations are made and previous interpretations reassessed. The present remains are discussed in relation to the cont...

Today, the advances in airborne LIDAR technology provide high‐resolution datasets that allow specialists to detect archaeological features hidden under wooded areas more efficiently. Still, the complexity and large scale of these datasets require automated analysis. In this respect, artificial intelligence (AI)‐based analysis has recently created a...

– Complexity of large-scale Airborne LIDAR data: its processing, and interpretation emerges the necessity of automated analysis with novel techniques.– Detection and documentation of archaeological ruins, hidden in the forests of the Swedish landscape.

This article focuses on the role of “skeuomorphic technologies” and “skeuomorphs of practice” in the development of digital workflows in archeology, seeking to examine whether there are common trends toward skeuomorphism in our development of digital infrastructures. By considering the way in which GIS, tablet, and 3D technologies were integrated i...

Archaeological collections are crucial in heritage studies and are used every day for training archaeologists and cultural heritage specialists. The recent developments in 3D acquisition and visualization technology has contributed to the rapid emergence of a large number of 3D collections, whose production is often justified as the democratization...

The 26th International Conference on 3D Web Technology (Web3D 2021) will be organized by the Web3D Consortium and the Institute of Science and Technologies of Information ISTI-CNR. The conference is focused on the ecosystem of 3D on the web platform, addressing its research, development, and applicative use. The theme for this year will be "A Share...

This study describes the development of a digital reporting system designed to provide archaeologists with a dynamic and interactive 3D web platform that can be used for describing in great detail records and activities undertaken across a multi-year field investigation campaign. The system was used to compose the archaeological report of a multi-y...

Report presents a unique discovery of a plaster head installation found within Building 132, in the North Area at Catalhoyuk (Central Turkey).

In the last decade, 3D visualisation has seen a strong diffusion in the cultural heritage sector. The development of more efficient computers, the distribution of friendly user interfaces, and the spread of new sensors for recording and visualising information were pivotal for exploring 3D visualisation technology to support advanced interaction an...

This chapter reports the results of a multifaceted research initiative that carried out digital experiments and explored the applications of three-dimensional spatial data recording, simulation and visualization of the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük in the period 2010-2015, thanks to a collaboration between Duke University, the University of Californ...

This article provides an overview of some of the complex issues involved in reconstructing and visualizing past landscapes. It discusses the importance of empirical data and introduces some of the terminology necessary for understanding methods which are often considered more in the domain of the natural sciences than humanities. Current methods an...

This contribution seeks to demonstrate how recently developed 3D GIS platforms can help archeologists in relating to the original context legacy data that can be employed to digitally reconstruct the sequence of arbitrary layers as it was observed and then excavated in the end of the nineteenth century. This research has been conducted on the prehi...

Sedan 2013 genomför Lunds universitet seminariegrävningar i Uppåkra väster om Gamla Trelleborgsvägen i Staffanstorps kommun, söder om Lund. Syftet är att undersöka lämningar från yngre och äldre järnålder, och ett antal förhistoriska ugnar, stenpackningar, härdar och kokgropar har grävts och dokumenterats (se t ex Larsson et al. 2018). I september...

This article considers the role of digital recording methods and visualisation tools in the primary recording of archaeology at the Neolithic tell site of Çatalhöyük, Turkey. Operating within and building on Çatalhöyük Research Project's understanding of reflexive methods (Hodder 2000b, 2003; Berggren and Nilson 2014; Berggren et al. 2015) we incor...

The diffusion of new three-dimensional (3D) visualization platforms together with the development of new tools for query and analysis of 3D information has provided archaeologists with the opportunity to define new investigation strategies based on the use of 3D geo-referenced libraries to simulate and interpret, at the trowel's edge, evidence and...

This article applies a neo-documentalist approach to explore disciplinary documentation and document practices, assumed to condition disciplinary knowledge-making. The aim is to show how conceptions and materialities of what counts as documentation and documents are intertwined with changing and persisting disciplinary and sub-disciplinary practice...

The aim of the present work is to introduce an innovative framework for employing 3D-GIS as an exploratory platform to perform visual analysis. Such a methodology is aimed at detecting patterns of visibility to simulate the past human perception of specific categories of artifacts placed inside a virtually reconstructed three-dimensional space. As...

Reconstructing the original splendour of the House of Caecilius Iucundus. A complete methodology for virtual archaeology aimed at digital exhibition

The diffusion of digital technologies has strongly affected the way scholars and researchers use and perceive the archaeological information detected during the field investigation process. Archaeologists are still only beginning to realize the full potential of these applications beyond the attraction of providing visually engaging documentation a...

Structures of architectural heritage are constantly exposed to natural and human-made threats that can compromise their cultural and artistic values. This is the case of the Roman city of Pompeii, whose preserving conditions nowadays are so critical to let a group of Unesco-appointed experts consider the possible inscription of the property on the...

The 3D-Digging Project started at Çatalhöyük in 2009 with the intent to digitally record and display in 3D all the archaeological stratigraphy: the case study is building 89 (B.89), a Neolithic house (Forte, et al. 2012). A house is an ideal case study because of the consistency of all the elements interrelated with domestic and ritual activities:...

Excavations at Catalhöyük have been ongoing for over 20 years and have involved multinational teams, a diverse range of archaeological specialists and a vast archive of records. The task of marshalling this data so that it can be useful not only at the post-excavation stage, but also while making decisions in the field, is challenging. Here, member...

This paper presents the archaeological prospection, excavation and digital three-dimensional documentation of a previously unknown neolithic grave, presumably late neolithic, at the outstanding Iron Age site of Uppåkra in southern Sweden, and exemplifies a multidisciplinary approach to modern archaeological fieldwork. In the framework of a large-sc...

The objective of this paper was to integrate excavation and post-processing of archaeological and osteological contexts and material to enhance the interpretation of these with specific focus on the taphonomical aspects. A method was designed, Virtual Taphonomy, based on the use and integration of image-based 3D modeling techniques into a 3D GIS pl...

In recent times, archaeological documentation strategies have been considerably improved by the use of advanced 3D acquisition systems. Laser scanning, photogrammetry and computer vision techniques provide archaeologists with new opportunities to investigate and document the archaeological record. In spite of this, the amount of data collected and...

Geophysical survey of the Iron Age settlement at Uppåkra church in southwestern Scania revealed some odd anomalies at the highest point of the study area. The anomalies showed a rectangle surrounded by a circle. Excavation uncovered a rectangular pit with drystone walls and a stone-paved floor, surrounded by an annular ditch with a diameter of eigh...

The project “3D-Digging at Çatalhöyük” started in 2009 as an on-site digital experiment to record every phase of an archaeological excavation in 3D, using different technologies such as laser scanning, computer vision, and photogrammetry. The end goal was to make the excavation process virtually reversible in a simulated environment from laptop com...

In recent decades, the development of technology that aids in documenting, analysing and communicating information regarding archaeological sites has affected the way that historical information is transmitted and perceived by the community. Digital technologies have affected archaeology at all levels; for example, novel investigation methods have...

This book chapter discusses the role of three-dimensional models in archaeological reasoning with a specific focus on the Uppåkra project conducted near Lund in southern Sweden and in Pompeii.

he Swedish Pompeii Project started in 2000 as a research and fieldwork activity initiated by the Swedish Institute in Rome. The aim was to record and analyze an entire Pompeian city-block, Insula V 1. Since autumn 2011 a new branch of advanced digital archaeology, involving 3D reconstructions and documentation methods, was added to the project agen...

Several new tools to obtain three-dimensional information from unorganized image sets are now available for the public use. The main advantage of this software, which is based on dense stereo matching, is the possibility to generate 3D content without the need of high-cost hardware (e.g. 3D scanning devices). Nevertheless, their use in real-world a...

Structure from Motion 3D modeling techniques are a useful tool for recording and interpreting burials.

This document describes the work within the Virtual Museum Transnational Project (V-MUST.NET), dedicated to the creation of a common language in the Virtual Museum domain. This deliverable describes the adopted methodology used to build an on line common database that collects terms and definitions. It also defines the main 8 categories chosen to i...

The Swedish Pompeii Project started in 2000 as a fieldwork initiated from the Swedish Institute in Rome. The aim was to record and analyse a full Pompeian city-block, Insula V 1. Created to encompass all major disciplines promoted by the Institute, the project targets a wider contextualization of the Pompeian evidence. Pompeii revived is the title...

The project “3D-Digging at Çatalhöyük” began in 2010 thanks to collaboration between Stanford University (Archaeological Center) and the University of California Merced with the scope to record, document (with different digital technologies) and visualize in virtual reality all the phases of archaeological excavation. Phase I (2010 excavation seaso...

The project "3D-Digging at Çatalhöyük" began in 2010 thanks to collaboration between Stanford University (Archaeological Center) and the University of California Merced with the scope to record, document (with different digital technologies) and visualize in virtual reality all the phases of archaeological excavation. Phase I (2010 excavation seaso...

This contribution is intended to present the results of some comparative tests between different techniques for tridimensional digital documentation, applied to archaeological finds. Both open source and proprietary solutions have been analyzed, investigating pros and cons of their approach and considering the characteristics of hardware and softwa...

An archeological excavation is usually a rapidly evolving environment: several factors (weather, costs, permissions) force the work to be concentrated in a few weeks. Moreover, excavating is essentially a mono-directional operation, which constantly modifies the state of the site. Since most of the interpretation is performed in a second stage, it...

The Virtual Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Project is a joint research between UC Merced and the Jiaotong University aimed to the digital documentation of archaeological sites, artifacts and cultural relics of the Western Han Dynasty. The outcome of this process will be the creation of a virtual museum, based on collaborative environments, dedic...

The virtual reconstruction of the archaeological landscape is a very complex process including in a virtual ecosystem many kinds of data, activities, according to a multidisciplinary approach. This system of relations, interactions and behaviors assumes perceptive, cultural, psychological and relevance. The virtual environment and archaeological st...

Il Comune di Tergu, in collaborazione con la Diocesi di Tempio-Ampurias, nel maggio del 2003 ha promosso efinanziato un progetto di ricerca archeologica presso l’abbazia benedettina di S. Maria di Tergu. La direzione scientificadei lavori é stata affidata alla Prof.ssa Letizia Ermini Pani, docente di archeologia medievale presso l’Università diRoma...