Mapping Adriatic Landscapes

The project is part of a long tradition of research carried out by the University of Bologna in the northern Marche region, in central Italy, across the valleys of the Rivers Cesano and Misa. Started in 2009, the new project of landscape archaeology is mainly based on the systematic employment of non-invasive techniques of investigation and mapping (remote sensing and geophysical techniques). The research is enabling a better comprehension and documentation of the ancient roman towns of Suasa and Ostra (where the university of Bologna has been working for decades) as well as the discovering and mapping of new sites never known before. The process of interpretation is led by the integration of different data sets (geomorphological studies, geophysical prospections, field walking surveys and excavations) and favored by an accurate cartographic production which connects all the gathered information. The new activities fit into the background of the last research promoted by the University of Bologna, aimed at achieve a better understanding of the dynamics of settlement and of the process of urbanization in the northern Marche. In this light the latest study earns of a particular relevance, allowing to enhance the framework on the human settlement during the Iron Age, which in the considered area remains a complex and fascinating period, characterized by a “cultural melting pot”, with the coexistence and blending of Piceni, Celts and Roman people, but still poorly archaeologically documented