SEARCH Project

The SEARCH project (SEnsing ARCHaeology. Non-invasive mapping and tracking technologies for evaluating and protecting buried archaeology), financed by the AlmaIdea program of the University of Bologna, is part of the long tradition of research conducted by DiSCi in the northern Marche region, between the valleys of the Cesano, Nevola and Misa rivers, which have recently led to important new acquisitions in terms of knowledge of the buried archaeological heritage and its preservation, thanks in particular to the systematic use of non-invasive survey methods (airborne remote sensing and geophysics). Starting from the paradigmatic experience of ArcheoNevola, with the 'programmed' discovery of a Picenum and Roman necropolis at Contrada Nevola in Corinaldo, as part of a preventive archaeology procedure, the research project aims to achieve non-invasive mapping and characterisation of some new burial contexts identified in the same area, between the Nevola stream and the Misa river. The ultimate objective is to deepen the archaeological and historical understanding of the pre-Roman Italic settlement in the northern Marche region, a district that has always been problematic due to the lack of available documentary basis and the paucity of archaeological evidence. At the same time, among the programme's aims is the development of innovation strategies and best practices for the assessment of buried deposits through integrated techniques of geophysical survey and remote and proximity multispectral sensing, which will be applied in consideration of the specificities of the archaeological targets and geo-pedological contexts of intervention.