Integrated methodologies for the archaeological map of an ancient city and its territory: The case of hierapolis in phrygia

Abstract

The chapter concerns the research activity conducted by the Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage of the Italian National Research Council in the ancient city and in the territory of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Pamukkale, south-west Turkey), in cooperation with the Italian Archaeological Mission. The research, conducted during the 2003-2010 campaigns, aimed to the reconstruction of the layout of the city and to the study of the ancient topography of its territory. It is based on the integration of different non-destructive study methods and technologies: systematic archaeological and topographical surveys, geophysical prospecting and processing, analysis and interpretation of aerial photos and multitemporal high resolution satellite images (in particular, space photos of 1960s and 1970s taken by USA reconnaissance satellites; panchromatic and multispectral images taken by QuickBird-2 and Ikonos-2 between 2002 and 2009). During the research, satellite images were not only used to replace and integrate the aerial photographs in the finding and location of traces of archaeological and paleoenvironmental elements, but they were accurately corrected in their geometric distortions and employed to integrate available cartography, as base-maps for the field works and in the GIS and webGIS of Hierapolis and its territory.