Project data
Funding entiy: Italian Ministry of University and Research
Call: PRIN 2022
Coordinator: UNIVERSITA’ DEGLI STUDI DI SIENA
UNISI Principal Investigator: Enrico Zanini
Department: History and Cultural Heritage
Start date: 28 September 2023 – End date: 27 September 2025
Description
Gortyna, on Crete, is one of the main historical settings of Italian archeology in the Mediterranean. After nearly 150 years of excavations and research, conducted by dozens of the most distinguished Italian archaeologists, Gortyna is today one of the most extensively investigated ancient, late-antique and early-Byzantine cities in the entire Mediterranean world.
Nevertheless, an effective global knowledge of such an extraordinary site is still far away: in fact, we do not yet have sufficiently detailed knowledge of the environmental context and the urban fabric of the ancient city; the information derived from previous research is dispersed within a vast and often difficult to find bibliography; a great deal of data is still “buried” in the unpublished archives of the Italian Archaeological School of Athens.
To overcome this problem, within the research program on the Gortyna site, coordinated by the Italian Archaeological School of Athens, the proponents of this project have started – thanks to two PhD projects currently in progress – a study of feasibility and a first operational experimentation for the realization of an archaeological Geographic Information System for the ancient city.
Having successfully completed the experimental phase, this project focuses on the concrete implementation of the system, with the systematic insertion of information already available in literature and in the archives, and on its development in three directions:
1. development of a standardization protocol to allow an effective insertion of further data coming from ongoing research, also from other subjects;
2. integration with three-dimensional reconstruction systems of already published monumental complexes, also with a view to using BIM (Building Information Modeling) systems for information management;
3. integration with one of an open communication platform, on MediaWiki software, specially created, for making information already edited in Open Access mode available.
The project is funded by European Union – Next-GenerationEU – National Recovery and Resilience PLAN (PNRR) – Mission 4, Component 2, Investiment 1.1 Fondo per il Programma Nazionale di Ricerca e Progetti di Rilevante Interesse Nazionale (PRIN). Project N. 2022KRK73N_001