Between the 17th and 31st of October 2006, a program of geophysical survey was carried out on four sites around Fabriano, Marche by the Archaeological Prospection Services of Southampton and the British School at Rome. The work was conducted on behalf of the Upper Esino Valley Project. Established in 2002, the project, conducted in collaboration with the Soprintendenza Archeologica delle Marche has the aim of understanding the development of the cultural landscape of this important valley on the transapennine communication route.

Over the course of a relatively short campaign, a range of sites were surveyed, with some successful results. Each site yielded information which greatly builds on the current knowledge of the site, and of the valley as a whole. Magnetometry survey allows the investigation of wide areas, in order that the spatial setting of archaeological features can be seen in a way which excavation and surface collection does not allow. It enables sites to be assessed on a variety of scales, and as features within a wider landscape. This has proved very important when looking at the complex sets of features which constitute a site, such as the villa rustica (site 347), roman town (Borgo Tufico) and possible prehistoric settlement (site 312). Although exact dating cannot be directly achieved through magnetometer survey, an idea of the chronology can often be proposed through an assessment of the form of the feature. The dating of sites can be better achieved when the results of the geophysical survey are combined with the overall results of the Upper Esino Valley Project. By using a combined approach, a greater idea of sites in their landscape can be achieved.