Using GIS to study ancient landscapes. The case study of the Pisa centuriation (Italy).
ARIANNA COMMODARI
Abstract The utilisation of GIS and spatial analyses help answer the phenomenon of an ancient agrarian system's transmission from Roman period to ours days in the plain of Pisa. The paper, in the first section, describes the methodological approach used to collect, to manage and to explore the data base consisting of cartography, archaeological, geological and hydrological data, in a GIS system. The study of the form and structure of the agrarian landscape carried out on various documents (aerial photographs, modern and ancient cadastres, satellite images), and the analyses of hydrological and environmental characteristics realised whit the utilisation of GIS permitted understand the conditions and the process of transmission of the centuriation (ancient agrarian system) over the centuries. In the second part are showed the spatial analyses (DTM and interpolation analyses) which bring new elements to the reconstruction of the ancient landscape. The last section focuses on the statistical analyses realized on the agrarian and urban parcels inside the centuries, to solve historical and morphological problems. In conclusion, the "new technologies" apply to the archaeological research permit to collect and manage different informations, to propose new interpretation and are fundamental tools for an interdisciplinary approach on the study of the ancient landscape.
