The area called Phlegraean Fields, in the Gulf of Naples (Italy), is an interesting context for the archaeological research due to the massive amount of evidences still preserved within the modern urban fabric. The PhD project conducted... more
The area called Phlegraean Fields, in the Gulf of Naples (Italy), is an interesting context for the archaeological research due to the massive amount of evidences still preserved within the modern urban fabric. The PhD project conducted by the author focused on the reconstruction of ancient settlement patterns of Misenum (in the modern City of Bacoli) and its territory, facing the methodological challenges of landscape archaeology in multi-layered urban areas. Data collection produced the first GIS-based archaeological map of Misenum that is useful both for heritage preservation and for studying the settlement dynamics. The case of Bacoli is a good example to show the limits but also the potentialities of archaeological cartography to detect the markers of ancient territorial patterns. I will be presenting some examples where the use of archaeological cartography proved to be profitable toward the analysis of the ancient landscape dynamics. As the case of Bacoli has proved, the correct use of archaeological cartography can detect the signs of past topography within the modern urban pattern, investigating the configuration of the ancient landscape.
