Analysis of the collapse mechanisms of medieval churches struck by the 2016 Umbrian earthquake

The 2016 Umbrian earthquake caused the collapse of several medieval churches, while it was noted that ordinary buildings only reported moderate or little damage. Researchers and technicians are looking to these religious constructions with the aim of understanding their structural behavior under seismic action. Depending on the direction of the seismic action, the typical collapse mode was the overturning of the side walls or of the church façade. This often produced the collapse of the roof structure. In many situations, the overturning was facilitated by a weak connection between the load-bearing walls. In this article, the collapse modes of three mediaeval churches are investigated. The article goes into some detail about what considerations are relevant when analyzing a historic masonry construction. The churches object of this study are located in Campi, a hamlet of Norcia, Italy. Between 2000 and 2004, a research team from the Technical University of Milan in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Culture carried out an extensive investigation on the historic buildings of Campi, providing interesting data about the maintenance level and a summary of the structural state of the churches. These data were used in this article for a critical analysis of the causes of collapse, performed in combination with numerical simulations of the global behavior and local instability.     

Towards a new philosophy of history. European Vichianism and Neapolitan Hegelianism (1804–48)

ABSTRACT

This article examines how Hegel’s reception among nineteenth-century Neapolitan authors went hand-in-hand with a renewed interest in Giambattista Vico’s philosophy of history. It considers the mechanisms of circulation and reception that shaped responses to Hegelianism within the broader context of European debates on La Scienza Nuova. These developments largely directed Neapolitans’ understanding of Hegel’s ideas and encouraged the merging of local thought with wider European currents. Neapolitan Hegelians engaged very extensively with the works of French and northern Italian authors, such as Jules Michelet and Carlo Cattaneo, who had understood Vico as a proponent of an absolute concept of historical time that neatly dovetailed with the philosophical preoccupations common among German idealists. The article makes a case for a transnational understanding of Neapolitan Hegelianism, arguing that this current of thought did not merely stem from the passive absorption of Hegel’s ideas, but emerged as the synthesis of a local and a European dimension of philosophy.     

Structural Identification of a Masonry Tower Based on Operational Modal Analysis

A wide program of structural assessment has been carried out by Politecnico di Milano on the historic bell tower of the church Chiesa Collegiata in Arcisate (Varese, northern Italy). Within this context, the first part of the article summarizes the results obtained from the application of the stochastic subspace identification method to ambient response data collected in two dynamic tests, carried out in June 2007 and June 2008. Next presented is the vibration-based methodology developed for the calibration of a three-dimensional finite element model of the tower, consisting in the successive application of systematic manual tuning, sensitivity analysis, and simple system identification algorithm.     

A hypothesis on different technological solutions for outdoor and indoor Roman wall paintings

The determination of the chemical composition of different parts of wall paintings (pigments, mortars and binders) provides information about technology of preparation of an artefact. Herein, we present a multi-methodological characterisation of wall paintings from a Roman archaeological site in Cuma, focusing on differences between an indoor (domus) and outdoor fabrication (a temple, Tempio con Portico (TCP)). Both pigments, binders and mortars were studied via a combination of destructive/μ-destructive (mass spectrometry, ionic chromatography, ICP-based techniques) and non-destructive (Raman microscopy, small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and X-ray diffraction) methodologies. Particularly, the systematic presence of dolomite only in mortars from TCP may suggest an intentional use of such limestone for the outdoor fabrication of public interest. Differences between TCP and domus are also related to the composition of the pigment binder. In particular, the detected binders (studied by LC-MS/MS and GC-MS) were proteinaceous in the case of domus (possibly egg and animal glue) and drying oils in the case of TCP. Ultimately, our multi-methodological study provides an overall picture of the material components of paintings from fabrications with different use, proposing a hypothesis on technological choices according to conservative and destination reasons.     

Protocol for lapis lazuli provenance determination: evidence for an Afghan origin of the stones used for ancient carved artefacts kept at the Egyptian Museum of Florence (Italy)

Despite that the Badakhshan Province (Afghanistan) remains the most plausible hypothesis for the lapis lazuli used in antiquity, alternatives proposed in literature are worth to study to confirm or disprove their historical reliability. In this work, a protocol for determining the provenance of lapis lazuli rocks used for carved artefacts is described. Markers for the univocal attribution of the raw material to a source were identified analysing 45 rocks of known provenance (among which 15 georeferenced) from 4 quarry districts. To the best of our knowledge, this reference database is the widest in provenance studies on lapis lazuli. All the markers are recognisable by means of Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) techniques, in particular micro-proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) and micro-ionoluminescence (IL). These techniques are non-invasive and applicable in air, allowing to analyse artworks and rocks of practically any shape and dimension without sample preparation.The protocol was applied to determine the provenance of raw material used for carved lapis lazuli artefacts kept at the Egyptian Museum of Florence, the second most important Egyptian museum in Italy, second only to the museum of Turin. The collection in Florence has a great historical value and includes several lapis lazuli pendants, scarabs, small statuettes and amulets ascribable mainly to the first millennium BC. Following the protocol, 11 of these artefacts were analysed by means of IBA techniques. Results ascribe the raw material to the Afghan quarry district.     

Southern rebels against Italian unification: the Great Brigandage in the province of Capitanata

This article explores counter-revolutionary brigandage in Southern Italy after 1860 (also known as Great Brigandage). Working from archival sources, the article offers a new interpretation of the interactions between the political, social and criminal aspects of the guerrilla war against the Risorgimento. Notwithstanding the plurality of the individual motives leading single actors to fight, it is argued that brigandage was an essentially political phenomenon and that the alliances between common bandits and loyalist forces were made possible only in the macro-political setting of the collapse of the Neapolitan monarchy, the difficulties facing Italian state-building, and the emergence of popular legitimist sympathies after 1860.     

A Regional Approach to Ancient Urban Studies in Greece Through Multi-Settlement Geophysical Survey

The systematic exploration of large archaeological sites in the Mediterranean has evolved considerably since the “big dig” excavations. Pedestrian field surveying and remote sensing applications, including satellite and airborne image analysis, are now practical and relatively cost-efficient methods of characterizing large and diachronically diverse landscapes on regional scales. However, the use of geophysical techniques as a means for exploring manifold archaeological contexts is still in its infancy. In this paper, we highlight the advantages of archaeological geophysics to conduct regional surveys in the Mediterranean. Through a multi-site geophysical fieldwork campaign to investigate the patterns and dynamics of ancient cities in Greece, we show how geophysics offer new opportunities for characterizing the spatial attributes and regional dynamics of urban landscapes, and, in doing so, we make an argument for its wider adoption on regional survey projects.     

Commercial Archaeology and 3D Web Technologies

ABSTRACT

This contribution summarizes the multiple uses of 3D web technologies in commercial archaeology. Considering the breadth of this topic, we will describe each different branch of these technologies with the example of case studies based on work of the Italian company Arc-Team. Our overview begins with 3D visualization for scientific purposes, showing a project funded by the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol (Italy) in order to improve knowledge about WWI. Second, we analyze a similar project, funded by the Autonomous Province of Trentino (Italy), but with the aim to increase tourism at a high alpine WWI site. The third example is the development of another prototype for tourism: a 3D web-map for the cultural valorization of the historical border (1753) between the region Tyrol and the Most Serene Republic of Venice. In the forth case study, we discuss the implementation of 3D within web platforms for archaeological project management of RAPTOR (Ricerca Archivi e Pratiche per la Tutela Operativa Regionale), a webGIS developed to aid in preservation and conservation efforts of cultural heritage for the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT). Fifth, we explore recent uses of 3D models for web-coworking during the process of excavation management, thanks to the developments of real-time 3D acquisition techniques based on SLAM algorithms and archeorobotic devices. Finally, 3D web-coworking is also analyzed illustrating some simple web tools that afford rapid feedback in data visualization, considering not only excavation field-work but also exploration projects. This overview, based on six different case studies, represents the four fields in which 3D web technologies are currently used in commercial archaeology: scientific communication; tourism improvement; preservation of cultural heritage; and real time field-work management. Some specific topics such as tourism improvement and field-work management are investigated in greater depth in order to allow us to analyze variables deriving from customer requests (e.g. restrictions regarding sensitive geolocation or preferences for specific web platforms) and from differences among data acquisition technologies based on various sensors.