Integrated geophysical and topographical investigations in the territory of ancient Tarquinia (Viterbo, Central Italy)

This paper presents the results of an on going study of the territory of Ancient Tarquinia (Viterbo, central Italy).The work is part of the University of Milano's 'Tarquinia Project', which studies the monumental area of this territory with particular emphasis on the 'Ara della Regina' temple site. To enhance the knowledge of this territory, a scientific collaboration between the University of Milano (Department of Science of Antiquity) and the Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage (ITABC-C.N.R.) was initiated in 2000 and is still in progress.The primary objective of the study was to determine the location and degree of conservation of unknown buried structures below the sites studied, using the integration of topographical surveys, three-dimensional laser scanner surveys of the temple and ground-based remote sensing surveys. The remote sensing surveys were carried out using the ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The analysis of the GPR time-slice maps indicates that some structural formations and walls of the buildings are still present below the surface. The results presented and discussed in this paper demonstrate the potential of both the topographical survey combined with the three-dimensional laser scanner survey of the monument and the remote sensing technique for understanding of the presence and the extent of buried buildings with respect to the temple area.