Studying an ancient settlement with non-invasive techniques. Integrated aerial and geophysical surveys at Civitalba (Marche)

The paper concerns the field activities of the Erasmus Intensive Programme (IP) Summer School organized by the University of Bologna in 2014, that were held at Civitalba (Arcevia), in the northern Marche region of Italy. The site is located in the high Misa River Valley, on a hilltop of an approximate height of about 550m above sea level, not far from the area where the famous battle of Sentinum, between the Romans and a coalition of Italic people (Samnites, Etruscans, Umbrian and Gauls), took place in 295 B.C. Civitalba was specifically selected as the setting of the field session because it is a place of great importance in the earliest phases of the Roman conquest of this portion of Italy, but is still largely unknown from an archaeological point of view. The hilltop occupied by the site presents a flat morphology on its peak, a position that guaranteed easy control over the whole high valley and the road system that connected Rome to the Adriatic Sea. On this high plateau, a large settlement probably stood, of which some archaeological remains were found between the 19th and 20th centuries, testifying to the presence of buried buildings, roads and decorative architectural elements dating to the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. In July 2014, for the occasion of the Erasmus IP, the area was transformed into a test-site for several remote sensing and geophysical techniques. The aims of the field activities were to demonstrate and use very advanced instruments and technologies for non-invasive investigation in a real archaeological situation directly in the field, as well as gathering up a wide range of new data on the context beneath the surface in order to assess the value of the site.