3D recording and total archaeology: from landscapes to historical buildings

The paper presents the general experience and two particular two case studies of 3D recording undertaken by two laboratories of the University of Siena, LAP&T and LAAUM, in the geographical background of southern Tuscany and the Po Valley in northern Italy. The case studies focus respectively on landscape and on historical building recording. The paper describes the first step in a new approach to the documentation and interpretation of the archaeological record, emphasising the need to collect and analyse 3D documentation at different scales of detail, from artefact to landscape. In essence this approach should improve the documentation of cultural contexts and therefore increase the opportunity to achieve archaeological understanding. The first part of the paper describes the contribution of LiDAR data in landscape analysis, underlining the importance of very accurate digital terrain models in geomorphological analysis and their influence on landscape archaeology. At a completely different scale of detail the final part of the paper presents the results of laser scanning and stratigraphical analysis at a historical building in southern Tuscany