Integrating Traditional Methods with New Technologies

Abstract

Various archeological evidence suggest the significance of the ancient city of Gortyn, capital of the Roman province of Crete since 67 AD till the end of the supremacy of the Roman Empire, around the VII century. Still a number of monumental buildings, of which archaeological remains are less majestic, have to be well studied and understood. Among others, it is the large Roman theatre built on the South-East slope of the acropolis. The area is currently inspected through archaeological excavations, under the Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of the Municipality of Herakleion. The visible remains of the theatre are still quite few but information about it is available thanks to many different sources: plans, descriptions and geophysical surveys. A careful analysis of these documents allow us to make various hypotheses about the original structure of the theatre that will be shown through the 3D reconstruction of the monument. With the help of the visualization tool it will be possible to identify which hypothesis represents better the original aspect of the theatre . The aim of this paper is to manifest the way that meaningful results can be drawn through the combination of traditional instruments with new technologies and methods, and to underline the power of visualization for the comprehension of archaeological context.