First paragraph: Nella progettazione della mostra si è voluta cogliere l’occasione per sviluppare... more First paragraph: Nella progettazione della mostra si è voluta cogliere l’occasione per sviluppare, in termini innovativi e con aspetti anche sperimentali, una riflessione scientifica sul tema dell’Archeologia Pubblica, con l’intento di contribuire alla diffusione di quest’area disciplinare in Italia, nella particolare declinazione di comunicazione espositiva dell’archeologia. Un approccio che si propone di ridefinire scientificamente il rapporto dell’archeologia, che pur appartiene a un ambito squisitamente accademico, con un pubblico, inteso come costituito anche, e prioritariamente, da non specialisti
Al-Jaya Palace and the New Shawbak Town. A Medieval frontier and the return of the urbanism in th... more Al-Jaya Palace and the New Shawbak Town. A Medieval frontier and the return of the urbanism in the Southern Transjordan The recent discovery – made during the 2018 campaign ofthe ‘Medieval Petra’ Mission of the University of Florence – of the residential al-Jaya Palace at the bottom of the hill of Shawbak’s ‘incastellato’ site is of particular relevance both for medieval and Islamic heritage in Jordan (no architecture of a comparable quality from the Ayyubid-Mamluk periodhas ever been found in the country) and mostly for the archaeological confirmation that underneath al-Jaya, lays the ancient medieval capital city of southern Jordan, founded by Saladin, on the same site of the castle-capital of the previous Crusader Lordship of Transjordan. This result represents a triple confirmation for the scientific program of the Mission: the productivity of the ‘Light Archaeology’ methodology that characterizes our approach; the real existence of the city whose foundation we had deemed to be ...
Saggio di scavo nell'area absidale esterna di S. Miniato al Monte di Firenze, 1977
Información del artículo Saggio di scavo nell'area absidale esterna di S. Miniato al Monte d... more Información del artículo Saggio di scavo nell'area absidale esterna di S. Miniato al Monte di Firenze.
First paragraph: Nella progettazione della mostra si è voluta cogliere l’occasione per sviluppare... more First paragraph: Nella progettazione della mostra si è voluta cogliere l’occasione per sviluppare, in termini innovativi e con aspetti anche sperimentali, una riflessione scientifica sul tema dell’Archeologia Pubblica, con l’intento di contribuire alla diffusione di quest’area disciplinare in Italia, nella particolare declinazione di comunicazione espositiva dell’archeologia. Un approccio che si propone di ridefinire scientificamente il rapporto dell’archeologia, che pur appartiene a un ambito squisitamente accademico, con un pubblico, inteso come costituito anche, e prioritariamente, da non specialisti
Al-Jaya Palace and the New Shawbak Town. A Medieval frontier and the return of the urbanism in th... more Al-Jaya Palace and the New Shawbak Town. A Medieval frontier and the return of the urbanism in the Southern Transjordan The recent discovery – made during the 2018 campaign ofthe ‘Medieval Petra’ Mission of the University of Florence – of the residential al-Jaya Palace at the bottom of the hill of Shawbak’s ‘incastellato’ site is of particular relevance both for medieval and Islamic heritage in Jordan (no architecture of a comparable quality from the Ayyubid-Mamluk periodhas ever been found in the country) and mostly for the archaeological confirmation that underneath al-Jaya, lays the ancient medieval capital city of southern Jordan, founded by Saladin, on the same site of the castle-capital of the previous Crusader Lordship of Transjordan. This result represents a triple confirmation for the scientific program of the Mission: the productivity of the ‘Light Archaeology’ methodology that characterizes our approach; the real existence of the city whose foundation we had deemed to be ...
Saggio di scavo nell'area absidale esterna di S. Miniato al Monte di Firenze, 1977
Información del artículo Saggio di scavo nell'area absidale esterna di S. Miniato al Monte d... more Información del artículo Saggio di scavo nell'area absidale esterna di S. Miniato al Monte di Firenze.
The archaeological research conducted at the Medici Villa in Cafaggiolo from 1999 to 2001 was the... more The archaeological research conducted at the Medici Villa in Cafaggiolo from 1999 to 2001 was the first of its kind. The
archaeological excavation led to the identification not only of several dumps of kiln waste which, even though not in their original locations for the first time give direct proof of the features and the entity of the production for the entire 16th century, but also a large deposit that can be interpreted as the domestic dump of the Villa because of the considerable quantity of finished slipware. The aim of this paper is to focus on the importance of considering shapes rather than just decorative patterns in studying late and post-Medieval pottery finds. By establishing the morphological group to which each finds belongs, it was possible to evaluate the entire production of the kiln. The quantification was carried out on the basis of shape classification; decorations were taken into consideration only after analysing the morphological aspects of the products, focusing in particular on the association which exists between shapes and decorative patterns.
Although research is still in progress, it was possible to identify three different phases in the maiolica production at Cafaggiolo: the first one from 1498 until the 1520s, the second one in the central decades of the 16th century and the last from the 1560s/70s until the end of the century.
Uno studio complessivo e multidisciplinare su un'abbazia benedettina dell'Italia centrale, della... more Uno studio complessivo e multidisciplinare su un'abbazia benedettina dell'Italia centrale, della quale viene ricostruita la storia nel contesto territoriale a partire dalle fonti scritte e materiali.
What can Medieval archaeologists do for today societies? Florence University team of Medieval Arc... more What can Medieval archaeologists do for today societies? Florence University team of Medieval Archaeology developed a strategy for funding base research projects at international level with the aim of showing how academic achievements could provide actual benefits to a wide public, including governing institutions, non state actors and heritage tourists. The posters present a selection of three international projects from 2006 to 2011 to illustrate how this was done.
Medieval archaeology is quite a recent academic field in Italy (from 1970s) and is characterized by high interdisciplinarity within Human and Natural sciences. Medieval landscapes and urbanization are the blueprint of today’s Euro-Mediterranean countryside and cities. Medieval architectures are a key feature of modern historic centers and in a very great number of cases medieval buildings are still in use as public or private structures across Europe and the Mediterranean. These facts provided the ground for designing projects that could serve the purposes of academic research as well as to help addressing issues of heritage governance and of promotion of social cultural growth and awareness for local and tourist populations.
A crucial point for the viability of such projects was the actual engagement of non academic potential beneficiaries into a joint cooperation with University of Florence on an equal basis. Community activation, based on the methodology of EU Leader Plus programme for rural development (then embedded within Public Archaeology), helped bridging the obstacles of potential distrust between academic and non academic actors through the development of a common language and through clearly defined roles within project consortia. The aim of maximizing benefits for all partners was interpreted in the sense that projects should respond to clearly identified needs of each partner/stakeholder, that has to actively take part to project planning and activities, thus helping an actual engagement of all project actors. All activities are subject to monitoring and impact evaluation. Projects developed by the Chair of Medieval Archaeology within this frame provided additional funding for base research (also in the form of research grants); sustained and implemented a scientific network of international public research institutions and their activities (including joint scientific missions and publications); created territorial, national and international networks of academic and non-academic actors able to join forces in project consortia and, recently, developed spin-off actions in the field of heritage services/enterprises.
In the case of the “Atlas of Medieval Buildings” (2006-2008), the outcome of archaeological research on medieval still standing structures of Mount Amiata in southern Tuscany, based on procedures of Light Archaeology (using non-invasive methods, limited excavation and focused on reconstructing territorial histories) produced in turn usable tools of heritage governance for 10 local municipalities (EU Leader Plus “Colleganze”) as well as a local museum (funded by Municipality of Arcidosso, University of Florence and Regione Toscana) for disseminating the results of academic research towards heritage tourists and resident population. The scientific study was carried out by the Chair of Medieval Archaeology and was aimed at recording and interpreting lordly settlement strategies of earls Aldobrandeschi between 10th and 14th centuries as part of a wider research programme on medieval rural aristocracies in Tuscany that includes areas in the provinces of Florence and Arezzo.
[quote from M. Nucciotti, G. Vannini, 'Light and Public!
International projects and research by the Florence chair of Medieval Archaeology, Florence (Italy), 2011, in print]
The paper presents an interdisciplinary project which is a work in
progress towards a 3D Geograp... more The paper presents an interdisciplinary project which is a work in
progress towards a 3D Geographical Information System (GIS) dedicated to
Cultural Heritage with a specific focus application on the Castle of Shawbak,
one of the best preserved rural medieval settlements in the entire Middle East).
The Shawbak archaeological project is a specific and integrated project between
medieval archaeological research and computer vision done thanks to a long
cooperation between University of Florence and CNRS, LSIS, Marseille.
Focusing mainly on stratigraphical analysis of upstanding structures we provide
archaeologists with two-step pipeline. First a survey process using
photogrammetry, both in a traditional way with additional annotations and
using the most advanced technique to obtain dense maps and then a tool for
statistical analysis. Two main applications are presented here, stratigraphy
analysis with Harris matrix computed on the fly from the 3D viewer and
statistical tools, clustering operation on ashlar in order to show new
relationships between the measured artifacts.
All these developments are written in Java within Arpenteur framework[
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Papers by Guido Vannini
archaeological excavation led to the identification not only of several dumps of kiln waste which, even though not in their original locations for the first time give direct proof of the features and the entity of the production for the entire 16th century, but also a large deposit that can be interpreted as the domestic dump of the Villa because of the considerable quantity of finished slipware. The aim of this paper is to focus on the importance of considering shapes rather than just decorative patterns in studying late and post-Medieval pottery finds. By establishing the morphological group to which each finds belongs, it was possible to evaluate the entire production of the kiln. The quantification was carried out on the basis of shape classification; decorations were taken into consideration only after analysing the morphological aspects of the products, focusing in particular on the association which exists between shapes and decorative patterns.
Although research is still in progress, it was possible to identify three different phases in the maiolica production at Cafaggiolo: the first one from 1498 until the 1520s, the second one in the central decades of the 16th century and the last from the 1560s/70s until the end of the century.
Key words: Archaeology, Morphology, Decoration, Classification, Maiolica (Archeologia, Morfologia, Decorazione, Classificazione, Maiolica).
Medieval archaeology is quite a recent academic field in Italy (from 1970s) and is characterized by high interdisciplinarity within Human and Natural sciences. Medieval landscapes and urbanization are the blueprint of today’s Euro-Mediterranean countryside and cities. Medieval architectures are a key feature of modern historic centers and in a very great number of cases medieval buildings are still in use as public or private structures across Europe and the Mediterranean. These facts provided the ground for designing projects that could serve the purposes of academic research as well as to help addressing issues of heritage governance and of promotion of social cultural growth and awareness for local and tourist populations.
A crucial point for the viability of such projects was the actual engagement of non academic potential beneficiaries into a joint cooperation with University of Florence on an equal basis. Community activation, based on the methodology of EU Leader Plus programme for rural development (then embedded within Public Archaeology), helped bridging the obstacles of potential distrust between academic and non academic actors through the development of a common language and through clearly defined roles within project consortia. The aim of maximizing benefits for all partners was interpreted in the sense that projects should respond to clearly identified needs of each partner/stakeholder, that has to actively take part to project planning and activities, thus helping an actual engagement of all project actors. All activities are subject to monitoring and impact evaluation. Projects developed by the Chair of Medieval Archaeology within this frame provided additional funding for base research (also in the form of research grants); sustained and implemented a scientific network of international public research institutions and their activities (including joint scientific missions and publications); created territorial, national and international networks of academic and non-academic actors able to join forces in project consortia and, recently, developed spin-off actions in the field of heritage services/enterprises.
In the case of the “Atlas of Medieval Buildings” (2006-2008), the outcome of archaeological research on medieval still standing structures of Mount Amiata in southern Tuscany, based on procedures of Light Archaeology (using non-invasive methods, limited excavation and focused on reconstructing territorial histories) produced in turn usable tools of heritage governance for 10 local municipalities (EU Leader Plus “Colleganze”) as well as a local museum (funded by Municipality of Arcidosso, University of Florence and Regione Toscana) for disseminating the results of academic research towards heritage tourists and resident population. The scientific study was carried out by the Chair of Medieval Archaeology and was aimed at recording and interpreting lordly settlement strategies of earls Aldobrandeschi between 10th and 14th centuries as part of a wider research programme on medieval rural aristocracies in Tuscany that includes areas in the provinces of Florence and Arezzo.
[quote from M. Nucciotti, G. Vannini, 'Light and Public!
International projects and research by the Florence chair of Medieval Archaeology, Florence (Italy), 2011, in print]
progress towards a 3D Geographical Information System (GIS) dedicated to
Cultural Heritage with a specific focus application on the Castle of Shawbak,
one of the best preserved rural medieval settlements in the entire Middle East).
The Shawbak archaeological project is a specific and integrated project between
medieval archaeological research and computer vision done thanks to a long
cooperation between University of Florence and CNRS, LSIS, Marseille.
Focusing mainly on stratigraphical analysis of upstanding structures we provide
archaeologists with two-step pipeline. First a survey process using
photogrammetry, both in a traditional way with additional annotations and
using the most advanced technique to obtain dense maps and then a tool for
statistical analysis. Two main applications are presented here, stratigraphy
analysis with Harris matrix computed on the fly from the 3D viewer and
statistical tools, clustering operation on ashlar in order to show new
relationships between the measured artifacts.
All these developments are written in Java within Arpenteur framework[