Applicazioni GIS all’archeologia urbana: il caso di Ravenna

Over the past few decades Geographical Information Systems in archaeological practice and above all in urban archaeology have become a standard tool for understanding the development of late antique towns. This paper analyses the city of Ravenna as a case-study, illustrating some standard and innovative GIS applications in a city characterised by non-systematic archaeological research. GIS helped us to systematize archaeological investigations and to guide city planning. New important excavations, in Piazza Kennedy, with the discovery of the 5th c. church of S. Agnese, and other smaller trenches in the city centre, add a fundamental collection of archaeological data. The creation of new chronological evaluation maps highlighted empty research zones in the old city, where urban archaeology should focus new excavations and archaeological evaluation projects