=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=None
|storemode=property
|title=Aerial Photography and Archival Data:
Some Examples of Combined Study in the Suburbium of Aquileia
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-806/paper5.pdf
|volume=Vol-806
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/aquileia/VenturaMO11
}}
==Aerial Photography and Archival Data:
Some Examples of Combined Study in the Suburbium of Aquileia==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-806/paper5.pdf
F-1
Aerial Photography and Archival Data: Some Examples
of Combined Study in the Suburbium of Aquileia
Paola Ventura1, Paola Maggi2 and Flaviana Oriolo3
1
Ministry of Cultural Activities and Heritage - Superintendency of the Archaeological Property
of Friuli Venezia Giulia - National Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, Aquileia, Italy
2,3
Freelance Archaeologist
paola.ventura@beniculturali.it, pmaggi@units.it, oriolo@units.it
Abstract: Starting from the rich historical documentation of the National
Archaeological Museum of Aquileia, we provide some examples of
crosschecking aerial photography and archival data, especially from
cartographic archives: in the immediate Northern outskirts of the city we can
assume the existence of residential areas - one of which was located right by a
production area - while evidence obtained by aerial photography both in the
North-Eastern and Western sectors refer respectively to a necropolis on the way
to Emona and to via Annia, according to archival sources.
Keywords: Aerial Photography, Archival Data, Aquileia, Suburbium, via
Gemina, via Annia, Funerary Areas, Villa, Workshop
1 Introduction
Currently, many projects and activities are being carried out regarding either the
whole Aquileia area, or single sectors of it, using different methods and levels of
investigation. It is convenient to coordinate the research work in order to optimize the
resources; in this way, it is also possible to exploit the overlapping of the investigated
areas, in order to mutually check the results obtained using different criteria and
techniques. Beyond this issue, the research work on the city of Aquileia and its
suburbium - which has been systematically investigated since the 19th century – is a
test to verify the effectiveness of the aerial photography - usually predictive -
crosschecked with archival data. In the latter case, we have at disposal an enormous
amount of documents - maps, photographs, reports - collected since the opening of the
National Archaeological Museum in 1882, as a K.K. Archäologisches Staatsmuseum.
In order to guarantee the consultation and, at the same time, safeguard the archives
from damages - especially to preserve the about two-thousand maps and drawings, a
F-2 P.Ventura, P.Maggi, F.Oriolo
part of them dating to the 18th century AD, and more than two-hundred to the 19th
century - it was necessary to re-organize and digitize the archives, partially fractioned
according to the size of the originals - and filing each drawing. The documents can
now be searched into a unique database, and viewed - reproduced, if needed - without
accessing the originals.1 This operation is aimed at preserving the archives, while
working with a tight schedule with the currently available instruments. Unfortunately,
it wasn't possible to geo-reference the maps. This would have allowed to overlap the
aerial photographs with the current maps, checking which of the currently-visible
traces refer to those evidenced in the past. Therefore, the classification is helpful, and
we adopted the topographic criterion: the Aquileia territory was divided into 31 zones,
matching the numbering of the archives' drawers where drawings are physically
placed2; starting from the archaeological map by Luisa Bertacchi,3 divided into
homogeneous areas, proportionally enlarged or restricted according to the amount of
findings discovered therein. Data can be searched by their urban and extra-urban
sector, subject, author, date, notes. This resource is essential to compare data, even
with the newest techniques of remote sensing, because it allows to check whether the
actual traces match the already excavated remains, successively covered again, and it
is useful to enter data into a net of documented remains, which is also helpful to their
interpretation.4
2 Case-studies: aerial photographs of the Annia Project
The potential of the historical archives is high. As an example, we mention some sites
on the suburbium: the area around the town belt was systematically explored during
the 90s, using reports, aerial photographs and research on the ground, in addition to
1 This task was projected and entirely carried out by the staff of the Museum, technical-
scientific assistants Flavio Cossar e Adriana Comar, who also provide reference for
personnel and researchers. At the moment, 1823 items have been dealt with and filed to a
database to be consulted via Intranet and already intended for web-access. A similar project
has been started, regarding manuscripts and excavation reports.
Some sections refer to different topics (drawers from 32 to 43: e.g., documents about the
National Archaeological Museum and the Early Christian Museum, cadastral maps, technical
maps, IGM, etc.).
3 Bertacchi 2003, tav. IV.
4 The above-mentioned archaeological map by L.Bertacchi is a synthesis of all the data
currently known; its limitations are the lack of geo-referencing and the simplification of
some reliefs, whose original details could have granted a more reliable overlapping. We
should also mention the geo-referred map of Aquileia set up in the 90’s by G.Meng on
behalf of the Superintendency, and further implemented by M.Braini: it includes the new
findings, but was not complemented with the historical ones.
Aerial Photography and Archival Data… F-3
the rich cartographic documents mentioned.5 On this basis we can now read photos of
the Aquileia's suburbium - taken in the framework of the Annia Project - which were
helpful well beyond their original purposes.6 The first site is located N of the
suburbium: the area was searched by inspecting photographs in the recent times,
having identified a complex, probably a villa with a production plant;7 this can be
referred to site AQ 11 according to the SARA Project (Fig.1a), whereas the oblique
photograph (Fig.2) can be located not far from AQ 14 (Fig.1a). In the 80s, after land
works, remains of an opus spicatum floor came to light along with mosaic tesserae
and a fragment of a terracotta column. Even in the 90s, ceramic fragments and bricks
emerged over a 20.000m2 surface. The outcropped materials suggest the presence of
housing facilities, visible on the aerial photos; unfortunately, no excavations or
sample-trenches - neither recent, nor older - were undertaken on the area.
Fig. 1a-b – N suburbium of Aquileia, E of the so-called Iulia Augusta (SARA Project, 1994);
highlighted sites: AQ 11 (Buora-Roberto, 2008, fig.4); AQ 14 ( fig.2); AQ 21 (fig.3).
5 The survey of the suburbium, by P.Maggi e F.Oriolo, was performed within the SARA
Project, carried out by the Superintendency, directed by F.Maselli Scotti); it partially
recovers the data of the Regional Archaeological Map, drawn at the Dept of Antiquities of
the University of Trieste (project manager: Chiara Morselli). Cfr. Maggi, Oriolo 1999.
6 Method and results in: Ninfo, Fontana, Mozzi 2011; Aquileia partic. figg. 4, 5, 15, 16.
7 Buora, Roberto 2008, pp. 68-70.
F-4 P.Ventura, P.Maggi, F.Oriolo
Fig. 2 – N suburbium of Aquileia, E of the Iulia Augusta (N at the bottom): the map of a
complex and isolated building, probably a villa; on the foreground, aligned semicircular
anomalies (Photo Ninfo = Ninfo, Fontana, Mozzi 2011, fig. 15).
E of the mentioned sector, on the place called Borgo San Zili - between the roads to
Emona and Tergeste - new aerial shootings (Fig. 3) show lines by AQ 21 (Fig.1a-b) of
an area where an excavation of part of a necropolis took place, E of the road to
Emona (marked by S). Data have been collected from the Maionica's Fundkarte; the
sketches of the Brusin notebooks, and researches of the 90’s, none of which was
reported on the Bertacchi's map.8 Thanks to the repositioning of the elements we can
partly discern evidences of the Roman city from later interventions.
8 Maionica 1892; G. Brusin, notebook 8/11/1936_19/6/1937 (MAN Aquileia); Bertacchi
2003, tav. VII.
Aerial Photography and Archival Data… F-5
Fig. 3. NE suburbium of Aquileia (N to the right), Borgo San Zili, between the roads to
Tergeste and Emona. We recognize a stretch of the road to Emona, flanked by buildings
(funerary precincts). Photo A. Ninfo = Ninfo, Fontana, Mozzi 2011, fig.16.
A remarkable case of recognition of ancient traces by different sources is Via Annia:
results by aerial photos match with data from historical archives. We give details of
the Annia Project about an area located W of Ponte Rosso, municipality of Terzo di
Aquileia (Fig.4). The point is located E of the site TER 10, filed during the SARA
Project (Fig.5), that matches a stretch of the road excavated in 1885 by C.Gregorutti,
located on the old land parcel n. 1073 - now 1075/2 - with its funerary monument.
Fig. 4. – W suburbium of Aquileia, municipality of Terzo (N bottom left), with the Annia road
layout (Photo A.Ninfo = Ninfo, Fontana, Mozzi 2011, Fig. 4).
F-6 P.Ventura, P.Maggi, F.Oriolo
Fig. 5. – W suburbium of Aquileia, at the boundary between Aquileia and Terzo (SARA
project, 1994); highlighted site: TER 10 (immediately W of photo in fig. 4).
The whole strip from river Ausa to river Terzo is depicted on an unpublished map by
G.Pozzar, from the early 20th c. - now in the archives of the Museum - showing the
overlapping of via Annia with land parcels (Fig.6).
Fig. 6. – The Annia road layout, between the rivers Ausa and Terzo (N at the bottom), drafted
by G. Pozzar (beginning of the 20th century, MAN Aquileia).
Also, it is possible to perfectly match another aerial view of the via Annia, taken
during the Annia Project at the boundary of the Aquileia and Terzo municipalities,
identified with the river Terzo (Fig.7): in this case, a comparison is given by a
Aerial Photography and Archival Data… F-7
preventive excavation relief, realized in 2010, whose map is enclosed (Fig.8), letting
emerge a stretch of the cobblestone road (glareata) and foundations of some funerary
precincts,9 as we guess from the aerial photos taken just before the excavations.10
Fig. 7. – W suburbium of Aquileia, at the boundary between Aquileia and Terzo (N at bottom
right), with the Annia's layout (Photo A.Fontana, the Annia Project).
Fig. 8 – General map of the excavations 2010 in Ponte Rosso (municipality of Terzo), on the
same parcel of land in Fig.7 (M. Braini, from P.Ventura et al. 2011, figs. 3,4).
9
Ventura et alii 2011, pp. 272-283.
10
Cfr. Maggi, Oriolo 1999, p. 117, fig. 8; Maggi Oriolo 2004, p. 227.
F-8 P.Ventura, P.Maggi, F.Oriolo
After considering the preliminary results consequent to the above-listed examples, in
the near future we intend to continue the cooperation between the Ministry of Cultural
Activities and Heritage (Superintendency of Archaeological Property of the region
Friuli Venezia Giulia) and the University of Padua, Department of Geography “G.
Morandini”, in order to exploit at best the high potentialities of the Annia Project's
oblique photographs, by crosschecking them with archival data of the National
Archaeological Museum of Aquileia.
References
1. Bertacchi, L.: Nuova Pianta Archeologica di Aquileia. Ed. del Confine, Udine
(2003)
2. Buora, M., Roberto, V.: Nuove Indicazioni sulla Pianta di Aquileia dalle Foto
Aeree. In: Memorie Storiche Forogiuliesi, 88 (2008), pp. 57-80
3. Maionica H., Fundkarte von Aquileja, Jahresbericht des K.K. Staatsgymnasiums in
Görz, 42 (1892/3)
4. Maggi, P., Oriolo, F.: Dati d'Archivio e Prospezione di Superficie: Nuove
Prospettive di Ricerca per il Territorio Suburbano di Aquileia. In: Antichità
Altoadriatiche 45 (1999), pp. 99-123
5. Maggi, P., Oriolo, F.: Il percorso della via Annia nel territorio di Aquileia:
elementi per la sua definizione. In: Busana M.S., Ghedini F. (a cura di), La Via
Annia e le Sue Infrastrutture, Atti delle Giornate di Studio, Ca’ Tron di Roncade,
Treviso, 6-7 novembre 2003), pp. 225-239. Antiga Edizioni, Cornuda (TV) 2004
6. Ninfo, A., Fontana, A., Mozzi, P.: Il Contributo del Telerilevamento nello Studio
della via Annia. In: Veronese, F. (a cura di), Via Annia. Adria, Padova, Altino,
Concordia, Aquileia. Progetto di Recupero e Valorizzazione di un’Antica Strada
Romana, Atti della II Giornata di Studio, 17 giugno 2010, pp. 51-65. Il Poligrafo,
Padova (2011)
7. Ventura, P., Duiz, A., Fontana, A., Gaddi, D., Gobbato, L., Mandruzzato, L.,
Oriolo, F., Nuovi Dati sulla Via Annia dal Territorio del Friuli Venezia Giulia. In:
Veronese, F. (a cura di), Via Annia. Adria, Padova, Altino, Concordia, Aquileia.
Progetto di Recupero e Valorizzazione di un’Antica Strada Romana, Atti della II
Giornata di Studio, 17 giugno 2010, pp. 271-297. Il Poligrafo, Padova (2011).