Modelli digitali da scanner CT. Case study: il micro contesto archeologico di un'urna cineraria (necropoli del Piovego, Padova).

Virtual models are effective cognitive tools, essential for preservation, research and documentation, especially in the field of Cultural Heritage. This study presents the acquisition of a cinerary urn through a CT scanner providing a topographic survey, useful for the predictive analisys of the archaeological depository and for the study of the morphology of the manufact. The urn comes from the tomb n.112 of the necropolis of Piovego (Padua), unearthed in 2011 by the Archaeology Laboratory of the Department for Cultural Heritage of the University of Padua. The tomb is formed by a dolium containing the urn, accompained by a rich set of vases of great facture – even dichromatic vases – datable to the second half of VI century b.C. The surveying process of the object and its contents has been conducted using a CT BrightSpeed scanner of General Electrics, with 0.35 mm resolution for the reconstruction of the internal volume, characterised by mutual positions and types of contents (remains of combusted bones, fragments of the collapsed lid and metallic artefacts). This approach provides a guide for micro-excavation operations while also permitting, already in the preliminary phase, the elaboration of a genetic-process model of the archaeological stratification, eventually providing a high resolution 3D model, characterised by a high contrast level for the morphological evidences.