Archaeological and physicochemical approaches to the territory: on-site analysis and multidisciplinary databases for the reconstruction of historical landscapes

The 'Colline Metallifere', a wide territory located in the south-west of Tuscany, has been characterized by a great development of mining activity over the centuries; this is due to the presence of a large mineral deposit, mainly constituted by mixed sulfide ores, that were exploited since Eneolithic age for the extraction of copper, silver, lead and iron. The territory has extreme relevance for the study of pre-industrial mining and smelting processed. Here, archeological research has been developed since '80 through archaeological digs and surveys. The project and the results we are going to briefly present are the result of an established collaboration between archaeologists and chemists of the University of Siena. It implies the comprehensive study of ancient mining sites, combining classic historical and archaeological observations with physical-chemical measurements and statistical methods, as well as the development of a multidisciplinary-relational database. © Archaeopress and the individual authors 2016. All rights reserved.