Ancient landscape reconstruction using archive data from the Pontine Plain (Italy): the Caprolace lagoon case study

Abstract

The greatest part of the documents concerning the last reclamation scheme of the Pontine Plain is now stored in a section of the state archive and in the archive of the Consorzio di Bonifica dell’Agro Pontino, both located in Latina (Italy). Detailed plans of the realised buildings, infrastructures as well as thousands of pictures of the environments before the reclamation scheme are available to the public. These data can be used to reconstruct the ancient landscape before the major changes which occurred after the spread of mechanical vehicles for earthmoving in the 1970s. The reconstruction maps can be used to set the proper background for the archaeological research in the area.

The Pontine Marshes: An integrated study of the origin, history, and future of a famous coastal wetland in Central Italy

“…As discussed by Van Gorp et al (2020), a fair indication for the overall magnitude of the subsidence due to the bonifica integrale could be obtained from the detailed topographic data produced for that bonifica integrale (Alessandri et al, 2022) and its comparison with a recent Lidar-DTM (2011). This soil subsidence, directly linked to the reclamation works, clearly plays an important role in the drainage problems encountered in the interior plain, as has also been described by Serva and Brunamonte (2007).…”