A system for the evaluation of environmental risk for lagoon arachaeological sites

Abstract

The project Archeorisk is presented. The objective is to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) for the safeguard and the management of the underwater archaeological patrimony in the Lagoon of Venice. The DSS has been completed in the form of a software prototype working as an extension of a geographic informative system. The DSS allows to evaluate the entity, the type and the distribution of the decay risk to which the lagoon archaeological sites are subjected. Its development has requested the acquisition of experimental data on the decay of the findings and about the main causes. In particular, the decay of ceramic and wooden objects has been studied. The system, that can be adapted to different environmental and archaeological contexts, is destined to the Archaeological Superintendence and permits to integrate the safeguard of the cultural heritage with that of the natural environment.