3D digitization of Vivara islet (Procida island, Italy): new geoarcheological perspectives for the data analysis

In Mycenaean times, the prehistoric settlement of Vivara, an islet of the Procida island close to the Campi Flegrei caldera in southern Italy, was a site of intense trade between peoples travelling the Mediterranean Sea along routes from the Near East and Greece to the coasts of North Africa and Western Europe. The interest in such navigations was linked to the supply of raw metal ore such as copper and tin. The Campi Flegrei area and the Aeolian archipelago already represented some places dedicated to trading these precious products around the middle of the 17th century BC. According to the geologic reconstructions, at that time, the Procida-Vivara area was situated at an altitude of 14 metres higher than nowadays, and the two islands, which are now connected by a bridge about 150 metres long, formed a single body of land. Underwater photogrammetry research conducted in the Gulf of Genito uncovered traces of this harbour system. It revealed a staircase carved into the tuff along the slope at a depth of -1 to -10 metres. The staircase was part of the ancient system of connections between the settlement at the summit of Vivara and the port area. Excavations in Punta D'Alaca have uncovered pottery and other artefacts that support the hypothesis of a dense trade network between the local populations and the Mycenaeans. The site has also yielded evidence of fires and other disastrous natural phenomena, such as mudflows documented by the collapse of huts, that interrupted the flow of historical events. In this context, the present geo-archaeological study carried out in collaboration with the 'Isola di Vivara' State Nature Reserve aims to understand how geological phenomena influenced the evolution of the landscape and, consequently, the social and economic development of the people who inhabited Vivara.  We used innovative digitization and analysis methodologies for the emerged and submerged areas of the island to reconstruct the subsidence evolution of the island. The instruments used include drone Lidar, terrestrial laser scanners, photogrammetric systems, thermographic sensors, and structured light scanners. The numerical models, geo-referenced and aligned within a single virtual space, provided information on the geology, botany and archaeology of specific island areas. This information is processed within digital platforms to analyse and visualise the models: the preliminary activities, focused on analytical studies of hydrogeological risk factors of the Vivara system, are conducted within a GIS platform specifically implemented for data management and storage. Then, the 3D models will be used to develop protection and enhancement interventions for Vivara Islet.