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Souen Fontaine, Alex Sabastia, Jérôme Sialelli, Denis Dégez, Alexis Rochat, Marine Sadania
Combining acoustic and optical cameras onboard an ROV as a detection and expertise tool for underwater preventive archaeology: a case study off Marseilles (France)

The development of preventive archaeology at sea and particularly offshore has led to the establishment of a protocol for geophysical detection and in situ identification of potential maritime cultural assets. To resolve the difficulty in precisely characterising, and therefore selecting for in situ expertise, acoustic anomalies corresponding to isolated or scattered objects, which are potential indicators of homogeneous buried sites or sites that are at the surface but deteriorated or very old, a new protocol for detection and expertise using an acoustic camera mounted on an ROV was developed and tested during an archaeological suvey in the Mediterranean. The results of this work demonstrate the relevance of this method, and point to a number of possible applications.

Manuela Ritondale
Archaeological predictive modelling in underwater contexts. Utility and challenges

Despite the availability of various remote sensing methods allowing for mapping, monitoring, and studying the underwater cultural heritage at previously unreachable depths, underwater operations remain costly and challenging to sustain in extensive areas. The adoption of formal models indicating where to expect archaeological remains would be extremely beneficial to optimise underwater archaeological investigations. However, whilst archaeological predictive modelling has increasingly been employed in terrestrial contexts, this technique is underdeveloped in the maritime domain, particularly in the Mediterranean basin. While hinting at a mistaken notion of what predictive models should achieve, this underdevelopment also highlights specific caveats, which should be addressed to improve current archaeological predictive modelling approaches, thus promoting their further development in maritime areas. This contribution presents a new GIS-based methodology for the prediction of shipwreck locations in Mediterranean territorial waters (i.e., 12 NM zone); particularly, it focuses on strategies to deal with data biases, model uncertainty and testing.

Nikos Papadopoulos, Crescenzo Violante, Dimitrios Oikonomou, George Kritikakis
Coastal and shallow marine geophysical investigations in the Roman site of Baia in Naples, Italy

The Roman site of Baia (Naples, Italy) belongs to the Campi Flegrei volcanic field, which is affected by vertical ground movement called Bradyseism, that strongly influenced the morphology of the coast. As a consequence, a number of architectural remains are now below the sea water surface, and partly or totally buried within the marine sediments. This work presents the results of the coastal and ultra-shallow marine geophysical survey aimed to investigate and reconstruct the onshore-offshore hidden built environment in the specific site. The geophysical approach included Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) to check the continuation of structural remains on the coast, static 3-D Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) to reconstruct the architectural relics in the shallow part and 2-D dynamic ERT to examine the layers below the the seabed in the deeper sections of the bay. The outcomes of this work contributed to the better understanding understanding of the submerged cultural landscape of Baia expanding the archaeological knowledge towards the shallow part and the coast.

Vasileios Giannakopoulos, George Papatheodorou, Dimitris Christodoulou, Elias Fakiris, Maria Geraga, Panagiotis Gkionis, Nikos Mavrommatis, Thomas Levy
A low cost Unmanned Surface Vehicle for mapping shallow-water UCH sites: Ancient and historical shipwrecks in Methoni bay, Greece

Advancements in remote sensing technologies and marine robotics have revolutionized the surveying of underwater cultural heritage (UCH), surpassing the limitations of conventional means. In shallow water areas, Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) offer advantages over research vessels, such as extended autonomous operation, maneuverability, low power consumption, and reduced environmental impact. In this study, conducted at two wreck sites in Methoni Bay, Greece, an USV was employed, equipped with a side scan sonar system operating at frequencies of 455/800 kHz, which was integrated into the Lowrance Elite-7 Ti sonar device. The collected data sets were processed using ReefMaster and SeaView software to generate accurate mosaics for inspecting and mapping UCH sites. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the use of USVs as a viable method for investigating and documenting underwater cultural heritage sites situated in shallow water environments.

Alexandros Labrianidis, Elias Fakiris, Georgiou Nikos, Dimitris Christodoulou, Xenophon Dimas, Maria Geraga, Nikos Mavrommatis, George Papatheodorou
Marine remote sensing and photogrammetric survey of an UCH site: A cluster of cannons in the SW Gulf of Patras, Greece

This study combines marine remote sensing and photogrammetry to investigate underwater cultural heritage (UCH) sites in the Gulf of Patras, Greece. The research utilized multibeam echosounders, side scan sonar, and marine magnetometers to detect potential UCH sites, followed by visual inspections using a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) equipped with a GoPro camera. Photogrammetry techniques were applied to create high-quality 3D models of the identified UCH site, revealing sunken cannons within a Posidonia oceanica meadow. Despite shape alteration caused by concretions and biological colonization, the 3D models provided valuable morphometric data. This integrated approach demonstrates the effectiveness of marine remote sensing and photogrammetry in mapping and documenting UCH sites, contributing to the preservation and exploration of underwater heritage.

Apostolos Vlachos, Stelios Krinidis, Kimon Papadimitriou, Aggelos Manglis, Anastasia Fourkiotou, Dimitrios Tzovaras
iblueCulture - An Innovative Underwater Cultural Heritage Real-Time Streaming System In A Virtual Reality Environment

The rich and valuable Underwater Cultural Heritage present in the Mediterranean is often overlooked by most, due to the inherent difficulties in physical approach. The iblueCulture project was created to bridge that gap, by introducing a real texturing and streaming system. It captures real time video underwater and uses it to properly texture and represent the Underwater Cultural Heritage site and its immediate surroundings in a Virtual Reality environment. This system has been installed in some modern and ancient shipwrecks in the Greek archipelago, which can be viewed in situ. It can also be modified to work remotely, for example in museums or educational institutions. The system can help make such sites accessible and raise public awareness. It can potentially be used in any underwater site, both for presentation and education, as well as for monitoring and security.

Crescenzo Violante, Enrico Gallocchio, Fabio Pagano, Nikos Papadopulos
Geophysical and geoarchaeological investigations in the Submerged Archaeological Park of Baia (south Italy)

In this paper we present the activities and the preliminary results of archaeo-geophysical and geoarcheological investigations carried out by ISPC_CNR in the Submerged Archaeological Park of Baia (southern Tyrrhenian Sea) in the two-year period 2020-2022 in in the frame of a research agreement with the Phlegraean Fields Archaeological Park (PAFLEG). The surveys were undertaken as part of three marine campaigns carried out in collaboration with the Norbit Subsea of Trondheim (Norway), the Subseafenix of Ravenna (Italy) and the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS) - Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH). This latter activity was founded by the Integrated Platform for the European Research Infrastructure on Heritage Science (IPERION HS). The collected data have enabled the characterization and mapping of the archaeological and geological features of the seabed and shallow sub-seabed at very and ultra high resolution, with important and innovative implications on the protection and management of the underwater cultural landscape.

Rosaria Galvagno, Alessia D'Anna, Anna Maria Gueli, Giuseppe Politi, Giuseppe Stella
Thermoluminescence dating of historical buildings as a tool for assessing natural radioactivity risk

The absolute dating of historical buildings through thermally stimulated luminescence techniques involves also in situ and extra situ dosimetry techniques. The age calculation for brick sampled is obtained from the ratio between the absorbed dose through luminescence measurements and the annual dose through the U, Th and K contents and the environmental dose values at the sampling site.
The radioactive contents of the sample and the environmental dose values can be used not only for dating purposes, but also to make assessments related to the level of natural radioactivity present in building materials in the case of historic buildings. The present study considered available data of samples from six sites in eastern Sicily. The analyses performed revealed a correlation between the environmental dose and the latitude of the sites from which the samples came and between the K and Th contents.

Francesco Caridi, Giuseppe Paladini, Santina Marguccio, Maurizio D'Agostino, Alberto Belvedere, Vincenza Crupi, Domenico Majolino, Valentina Venuti
Radioactivity content in construction materials of assets of particular historical-artistic interest

In the present paper, an investigation focused on the natural radioactivity content in construction materials widely employed for the realization of buildings of particular historical-artistic importance, was performed. In particular, the assessment of the activity concentration of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K radioisotopes in red granite and basalt aggregate samples was carried out through High Purity Germanium (HPGe) γ-ray spectrometry. Moreover, several indexes developed to evaluate the radiological risk for human beings related to radiation exposure, i.e. the radiation activity concentration index (I), the alpha index (Iα), the radium equivalent activity (Raeq), the hazard indexes (Hin and Hex), the absorbed γ-dose rate (D) and the annual effective dose equivalent outdoor (AEDEout) and indoor (AEDEin), were calculated.

Simona Mancini, Natasa Todorovic, Serpil Akozcan, Domenico Guida, Albina Cuomo, Michele Guida
Monitoring of indoor Radon in historical heritage buildings by means of passive and active methods. A case study.

Indoor radon in buildings is a major cause of lung cancer in Europe, a risk enhanced by exposure to air pollution and tobacco smoke. Radon monitoring is, so, essential in determining the level of human exposure in living and work places. Recent literature has highlighted that historical buildings and archaeological sites could be affected by high Radon activity concentrations because of not only the entering from the soil but also due to the type of building materials and usage.
This paper is aimed at monitoring Radon concentration measurement in an historical building in Salerno, Italia, where building material could highly contribute to indoor radon levels. The monitoring was performed over a period of 3 month. The measured concentrations ranged in a wide interval up to 263 Bq/m3 in living environments. Analysing the possible sources, both contributions of rad on from the building materials and radon from the soil was observed.

Page 6 of 938 Results 51 - 60 of 9371