TRADITIONAL APPROACHES AND NEW DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE ANALYSIS AND RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SACRED AND CULT LANDSCAPE IN CENTRAL TYRRHENIAN ITALY: Piante

The research combines archaeology and religion and makes use of the Archaeology of Cult, dealing with systems of archaeologically identifiable actions structured in response to religious beliefs, and the Archaeology of the Sacred, which studies the spaces, behaviours and artefacts of the gods worshipped through historical and archaeological evidence. The ancient city of Veii and its territory in central tyrrhenian Italy represent a highly informative observatory for continually evolving social and religious identities during the period from the final Bronze Age to the Medieval period. The project tackles key issues in the rapport between religion and archaeology, including: the definition of parameters for ascribing an archaeological site to the sacred sphere; the identification of useful tools for reconstructing the religious landscape and the influence that religion may have had on the emergence of an urban centre. These are the objectives and methods: Objective 1: Critical review of the archaeological evidence on settlements, with a specific focus on cult and sacred features in the city and territory of Veii between the 10th century BC and the 8th AD. Objective 2: Survey and reanalyze of the territory of Veii to enhance knowledge, and its religious organization. Objective 3: Archaeological and historical reconstruction of urban and suburban settlements, with aspecific focus on the evolution of the religious landscape, including the deities worshipped, the types of cult places, cult personnel and rituals during the various chronological periods considered. The use of digital mapping technologies (Geographical Information System) and new technologies will enable a systematic contextualization of the available archaeological and textual evidence. Objective 4: Comparison with the religious organization of the territory of nearby cities such as Rome and Cerveteri, to develop theoretical models for the relationship between cults in the city and the territory.