La Stele Etrusca di Vicchio. Metodologie di rilievo per un’iscrizione da svelare

Modern processes for understanding material culture are intrinsically an important component of cultural management where an efficient synergy between archaeologists and architects can play a major role. The origins of this project are based on the interdisciplinary relationship that was part of close collaboration with the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project – a consortium of American and European universities – which coalesced as the result of extraordinary find by the excavations of Poggio Colla, in the Comune of Vicchio. This find, an inscribed stele, became the focal point of this thesis. The stele is a large sandstone slab that dates to the 6th century BC. It weighs 250 kilograms, is well over a metre high, and was placed in the foundations of a temple. The stele is especially important because its surface is inscribed with a long Etruscan text, probably sacred in nature, which promises to shed light on the Etruscan belief system as well as to provide important evidence for Etruscan language and epigraphy. The principal research goal was to render decipherable through experimental methods, based on 3D digital documentation, the numerous incisions, some of which are now barely even a millimetre deep. The challenge of providing a high-definition digital representation of the inscriptions was resolved by the repeated documentation of the stele during all parts of the conservation process. The experimental methodology that was chosen for documentation was digital photogrammetry and triangulation-based laser scanning.