Matilde Marzullo

The organic residues in the material of a series of pottery vessels from a votive deposit (3rd − 2nd century BCE) in the excavations of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia (Italy) were analyzed by gas chromatographymass spectrometry (GC-MS). Long-chain (31, 33 and 35 carbon atoms) ketones were initially detected in the lipid extracts of all the ceramic samples examined, irrespectively of the characteristics of the vessels in terms of shape and texture and of the possibility they had been used for cooking, recognized in several studies as the main cause of the formation of these compounds. Considering that some cases have also been reported in the literature in which the presence of these ketones seemed unexpected for a given ceramic container, it was decided to examine the possible correlation of their occurrence, for the set of vessels examined in the present work, with the sampling mode used to obtain the ceramic powder before extraction with solvents for the recovery of the organic residue. It was thus possible to demonstrate that the use of a drill for sampling, a modality not unusual in this kind of study, can give rise to the formation of these compounds in an archaeological ceramic material in which fatty acids are absorbed, particularly if it contains calcium carbonate, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the examined pottery fragments. A laboratory experiment based on a fragment of modern pottery in which palmitic and stearic acids were absorbed from a solution, and from which powder samples were then obtained both by drilling and by manual scraping of the pottery surface, allowed to validate the hypothesis above. It was therefore possible to highlight the importance of careful consideration also of the sampling phase in interpreting the results of the analysis of organic residues in archaeological pottery.

Bucchero is a well-known class of Etruscan ceramics, characterized by being entirely black both on the surface and in the body. In the present investigation, a representative set of bucchero sherds from the excavations of the Etruscan town of Tarquinia (Viterbo, Italy) was analyzed through flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and near-infrared (NIR) reflection spectroscopy. Both elemental and mineralogical composition data were treated with methods of multivariate analysis. It was thus possible to discriminate between local and imported production, to estimate the firing temperature and to verify the origin of the grey-black color in this peculiar ceramic class. Furthermore, a virtual reconstruction of a bucchero vase starting from fragments was also attempted on the basis of chemical analysis data.

This paper discusses two kinds of research implemented to federate different disciplines and knowledge in support of archaeological research and the protection of the tangible and intangible heritage of ancient Tarquinia. The first part of the work examines the results obtained from the archaeological analysis, the concrete implications on the sustainability of ancient cultural landscapes and their possible transmission over time as an expression of the culture of a community. The second part of the work presents the reading and analysis of the ancient landscape and sites through chrono-stratigraphy, especially regarding two case studies in Tarquinia: the 'monumental complex' and the Ara della Regina sanctuary. The work focuses on the intangible aspects of the landscape as a result of archaeological research in the archaeoastronomical field. The orientation of the sacred structures and landscapes is presented herein regarding Etruria and the two case studies. The results shed light on the city's perception by the population, identifying it as an entity that held and sheltered every aspect of the community's life. The preliminary results of this study have made it possible to recognise aspects of significant historical and cultural value, which are the heterogeneous expression of a solid identity to be safeguarded and developed in a sustainable way.

This chapter presents an overview of the results of an interdisciplinary collaboration between several domain experts in the frame of archaeological projects. Since 2001, different independent interactive systems have been co-designed, developed, and tested on the field, in the frame of the " Tarquinia Project " carried out since 1982 in the ancient Tarchna, one of the foremost Etruscan cities, by the Università degli Studi di Milano. The adoption of a semiotic approach to a participatory action design research process with the involvement of domain experts led us to a better understanding of the main characteristics but also the challenges of the archaeological practice and helped us to apply tech‐ nology in a better and efficient way. The currently undergoing work is focused on the co-design of a cloud of services aimed at integrating all the tools into a bigger framework to support the archaeological practice in a more pervasive way.