Application de méthodes de prospection à l’étude géo-archéologique de la plaine côtière du fleuve Potenza (Les Marches, Italie)

Abstract

We have combined geological, geomorphological and archaeological methods and techniques to reconstruct the evolution of the coastal plain of the Potenza river in central Italy since Antiquity. These methods and techniques comprise archaeological surface survey and the interpretation of oblique low-altitude aerial photographs to understand the evolution of human occupation on the one hand; hand augering and geoelectric survey to characterise the evolution of the natural environment on the other hand. The combination of these methods with archive study, interpretation of conventional vertical aerial photographs, radiocarbon dating, and analysis of molluscs have proved to be useful in resolving the main questions regarding the history of the coastal plain of the Potenza river. The different positions of the water course and of the coastline starting from Antiquity have been documented.

Keywords

• geo-archaeology
• coastal plain
• geoelectric surface survey
• Holocene
• Potenza river
• the Marches