This research aims to study the urban plan of Veii through the integration of data collected by remote sensing using a drone with archive material. Begun in 2017, from 2020 it has been part of studies at Roma La Sapienza University in the pre-Roman and Etruscan department, and since 2021 is part of a Ph.D. at the same institution.
The archive research involves looking at all documentation held in the numerous archives regarding the investigations undertaken in the Veii area to date. The material is digitized and the information that can be mapped is geo-referenced using GIS on high resolution and spatially precise orthophotos, so that they can be integrated with the data from the drone remote sensing. Indeed, this methodology has led to the identification of cropmarks and soilmarks over an area of c. 700 hectares, including the urban area of Veii and the surrounding hills. Two innovative techniques are being used and developed; multi-spectrum and thermal remote sensing. As the results obtained using these techniques are extremely variable depending on multiple factors such as weather and environmental conditions, the drone flights are constantly repeated in different periods. The identified anomalies are interpreted, digitized and integrated in the GIS together with the results from the analyses of historic aerial photographs.
Based on the archaeological traces identified and the data recovered from a re-examination of past research, a detailed map of knowledge about Veii has been created and is constantly updated, forming a fundamental instrument for a vision of the archaeological site that is both global and detailed.
The project’s aim is, on the one hand to carry out an overall re-reading of the urban phenomenon of ancient Veii, and on the other to create an advanced instrument for the protection of the area and the future planning of new research there.