The second archaeological and geochemical survey campaign in Val di Cornia and Val di Pecora

In the months of September and October 2018, the second multidisciplinary survey campaign (archaeological, geological, geochemical) was carried out in Val di Pecora and Val di Cornia.

The research, in collaboration with the Department of Biotechnology Chemistry and Pharmacy, involved archaeologists coming from universities all over Italy. The territory covered by these new investigations included the coastal area of ​​the lower Val di Cornia next to Parco della Sterpaia and the important archaeological sites of Vignale and Carlappiano.

The main goals of the research concerned the definition of the internal limits of the ancient lagoon of Torre Mozza (the central element of this portion of the landscape) and the collection of useful information for the reconstruction of the historical landscape and its transformations.

Specific analyses also concerned Val di Pecora, in particular the area near the site of Vetricella; in order to reconstruct the structural elements and the activities through the development of the chemical composition of the soil, here the analysis were deepened on sites previously identified during the 2017 survey.

The measurements on the ground involved the use of a portable analyser and a GPS, and were taken on the basis of 20m x 20m grids planned on a GIS platform. The data acquired and returned to an Excel archive will be used for statistical analysis and for the elaboration of chemical models of the territory. The latter also constitute one of the numerous archives being implemented within the nEU-Med project, whose ultimate goal is the reconstruction of the historical landscape of the valleys of Pecora and Cornia.