Necropolis of Palazzone in Perugia: integrated geomatic techniques for a geomorphological analysis

In the geomorphological research field there has been an increasing diffusion of Geomatics in recent times: the introduction of new tools and methodologies has made possible to characterize and reconstruct Earth's surface in 3 dimensions at high resolution, allowing a much better description of the geometries. Geomatics is an applied science that deals with acquiring, modeling, analyzing, processing, archiving and providing geographic and spatial data information with an integrated approach. In particular, among the geomatic techniques that can be profitably utilized in Geomorphometry, there are LiDAR and photogrammetry. These technologies allow to generate high-resolution point clouds representing the soil surface geometry in greater detail than the classic survey techniques, allowing detailed analysis at a few centimeter scale. In this paper we present an application of geomatic methodologies to the case of the Necropolis of Palazzone, an Etruscan funeral site near Perugia, in central Italy: an excellent example of a site combining archaeological and geological interests, being a so called “archeogeosite”. The geomatic models represent the basis for a sedimentary and geomorphological study of the cavities, a 3D analysis of the lithostratigraphic units aiming to a paleogeographic reconstruction of the Perugia hill.To measure and georeference the cavities and the ground surface of the site, the project has seen a synergistic use of different methodologies in order to obtain a 3D model on which carry out investigations both on the geomorphological and archaeological aspects