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This paper proposes a methodological model for managing archaeological knowledge within current Virtual Archaeology digital ecosystems. Starting from the evolution of the discipline, today no longer limited to three-dimensional visualization but oriented towards integrated platforms for analysis, documentation, conservation, and communication, research addresses the problem of structuring heterogeneous, geometric, spatial, temporal, documentary, and interpretative data. Goal is to define an information system capable of transforming the multiplicity of acquired data into operational, queryable, and shareable knowledge. 

Proposed approach is based on constructing a multilevel HBIM model, divided into four mutually integrated components: spatial model, documentary model, stratigraphic model, and interpretative model. Spatial model provides site’s three-dimensional metric base; documentary model organizes and georeferences sources, surveys, images, and archives; stratigraphic model introduces temporal and relational dimension of archaeological units, also including virtual stratigraphic units; interpretative model formalizes reconstructive hypotheses and scenarios, making degree of reliability explicit through reliability levels. 

Integrating the four models in a Common Data Environment allows correlating material evidence, historical sources, and interpretations, supporting research, protection, management, and enhancement. The paper shows how the proposed system can constitute a dynamic and replicable platform, capable of combining scientific rigor, data interoperability, and new forms of communication for archaeological heritage. 

This paper analyses how virtual archaeology — now understood as an integrated system that combines rigorous scientific documentation with modern storytelling strategies — can be used to produce digital and analogue outputs. The case study concerns the Nuragic complex of Palmavera (Alghero), which was the subject of a digital documentation campaign conducted by the GRA·VIS LAB of the Department of Architecture, Design, and Urban Planning, University of Sassari, as part of the initiatives for the nomination of Nuragic sites to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The acquisition and reconstruction of the archaeological remains was guided by integrating the deductive method (based on the laws of statics and constructive logic) with the analogical method (based on typological comparison with other contemporary monuments). The research’s originality lies in its use of a digital model as an invisible foundation for creating outputs of high communicative value.  Axonometric cross-sections, timelines and narrative illustrations have been used to translate the technical data into educational panels that make the site accessible and understandable to a diverse audience, bringing together scientific protection with inclusive and engaging cultural enjoyment.

The paper presents a diachronic HBIM paradigm applied to the complex of San Lorenzo in Miranda, in the Roman Forum, built onto the remains of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and stratigraphically connected to the Atrium Vestae. The monument, shaped by transformations from the Imperial age to the twentieth century, is interpreted as a complex palimpsest to be represented through the integration of form, phase, and source. The methodology combines integrated 3D survey (laser scanning, photogrammetry, and georeferencing) with the systematization of historical sources within a relational database structured by Topographical Units and chronological phases. The HBIM model is not conceived as a mere replica of the current state, but as an informational infrastructure that distinguishes surveyed, interpreted, and conjectural data, explicitly linking each geometric element to the origin and reliability of its sources. Transformations are managed through diachronic structuring and parametric operations of volumetric addition and subtraction, preserving the memory of continuities and losses. The extension to the adjacent excavation area —modeled from georeferenced plans and converted into BIM elements through VPL— tests the scalability of the approach in archaeological contexts lacking point clouds. The result is a multi-layered, queryable model conceived as a dynamic archive and epistemological device supporting research, conservation, and heritage enhancement.

This article explores digital archaeology through an examination of the excavation at the site known as ‘Santa Maria in Viridis’ in the archaeological park of the ancient city of Ascalona (Ashkelon, Israel). The AskGate mission, funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and led by the Department of Architecture at the University of Florence (with Cecilia Luschi as head of the mission), is studying the site. In 2022, the team, comprising architects, archaeologists, geologists, physics, and chemists, began excavating the site, integrating topographic and photogrammetric survey work into the daily phases of excavation and material sampling. The article presents the results in the form of a digital, multiscale model designed for sharing and consulting data from various disciplines. This model experiments with transdisciplinary solutions and virtual reversibility of the archaeological excavation.

This paper provides an overview of the Mausoleum of Caecilia Metella in Rome and of an integrated survey campaign based on terrestrial laser scanning and aerial/terrestrial photogrammetry, aimed at producing a research-grade model of the monument. Based on these data, an on-site autoptic analysis was carried out focusing on material traces that characterize the different phases of reuse, from the post-antique period to the nineteenth century. Particular attention is devoted to revising the chronological attribution of the elevated opening in opus quadratum drum.

This paper presents the application of Historical Building Information Modelling (HBIM) in an archaeological context, using a case study of the monumental complex of the Temple of Athena Polias in Priene, Turkey. The research critically analyses the entire process, from data acquisition through digital surveying (laser scanning and photogrammetry) to the construction of the parametric information model, and finally to the verification of the Level of Accuracy (LoA) by comparing the HBIM model with the point cloud.