Efficiency and quality raising in preventive archaeology: Work in progress of the project ARCHEO 3.0

Preventive archaeology aims at assessing the archaeological interest of a given area, as well as discovering, interpreting, documenting, and protecting archaeological remains that might otherwise be destroyed by land development works. On request of private stakeholders or institutional bodies, archaeologists intervene on a given construction yard (of infrastructure or urbanisation works) in order to investigate the possible archaeological significance of zones subjected to excavation works. In many cases archaeological assays are carried out, which are associated with thorough stratigraphic documentations and definition of the final preservation conditions. The latter can involve suitable re-burying or musealization of some of the archaeological remains recovered. During these activities, the construction works are slowed down or completely interrupted up until the conclusion of the mentioned archaeological research, which can generate possible delays with respect to the planned time schedule and increase of the costs. Improvements are needed in order to minimise the duration of the archaeological assessment and, simultaneously, to guarantee quality standards even higher than tose stated by the competent superintendences. Within this framework, the project ARCHEO 3.0 "Integration of Key Enabling Technologies for rising the efficiency and quality of preventive archaeological excavations" (co-funded by Tuscany Region, POR-CReO 2014-2020) aims at speeding up the archaeological excavation and at improving its documentation. It foresees the development of a set of characterisation tools, their integration and validation in archaeological yards. Thanks to ICT solution such a multidisciplinary integration will be made possible by a dedicated web-based platform that will allow to manage 2D and 3D photogrammetry along with the data provided by electromagnetic, and acoustic sensors. The project aim at promoting a substantial step ahead of the preventive archaeology in order to overcome the traditional empiric approach. In this respect, data exchange and the ICT solutions for direct collection of information on archaeological evidences represent the major challenge. Here, we preliminarily focus on the general features of management protocols of the archaeometrical data, as well as on their suitable integration within the operative phases of the archaeological excavation.