Research

Archlabs

ARCHLabs (Archaeological Heritage in Late Antique and Byzantine Sicily) is an interdisciplinary research project and summer field school in archaeology focusing on the UNESCO Wordl Heritage site of the Roman Villa del Casale at Piazza Armerina (Sicily), run in partnership with the University of Bologna (Isabella Baldini), the University "Kore" of Enna (Paolo Barresi) and Institute for Heritage Science of the Italian CNR (Carla Sfameni). The project is part of the activities of CISEM - Centro Interuniversitario di Studi sull'Edilizia abitativa tardoantica nel Mediterraneo in collaboration with the Parco Archeologico di Morgantina e Villa Romana del Casale.

The application of innovative digital methods for the study of the Villa complex includes -Terrestrial laserscanning, terrestrial and aerial digital photogrammetry, ground penetrating radar, GIS analysis, and serious gaming app development, in parternishp with University of Arkansas' Tesseract.

The field school component of the project focuses on  an approach based on digital techniques for investigation, data collection, and data management for archaeological practice and research and involves lecturers from several international institutions as the Jagiellonian University of Krakow, the Open University of Cyprus; the Stockholm University; the University of Athens, the University of Oviedo and the University of Peloponnese.

Further readings:

F. Gabellone, M. Chiffi, D. Tanasi, M. Decker 2020, Integrated technologies for Indirect Documentation, Conservation and Engagement of the Roman mosaics of Piazza Armerina (Enna, Italy), in E. Cicalò (ed), Proceedings of the 2nd International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Image and Imagination. IMG 2019, Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing 1140, Springer, pp. 1016-1028.

R. G. Vennarucci, D. Tanasi, D. Frederick, N. Reynolds, K. Kingsland, B. Jenkins, S. Hassam 2021, In Ersilia’s Footsteps. Toward an Interactive WebGL Application for Exploring the Villa Romana del Casale at Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Web3D 2021 Conference, The 26th International Conference on 3D Web Technology, Pisa 8-12 November 2021, ACM Digital Library, pp. 1-7. 

3D Resources:

Aerial digital photogrammetry of the site

Virtual gallery of the 3D models of the rooms with mosaic floors

Serious Game VILLAE (Virtual Interaction and Live Learning Augmented Experience)