MAPOD4D “CSSG”: the first Metaverse on the skeletal recovery in the experimental field laboratory for the research on technological applications in the archaeological UNESCO site of Castelseprio – San Giovanni

During the 2023 excavation campaign realized by the University of Padua in the UNESCO site in Castelseprio, in San Giovanni church, the first anthropological metaverse (https://www.mapod4d.it) called MAPOD4D CSSG has been created, focused on the skeletons recovery and analysis. The article aims to present Metaverse CSSG and the methods that led to its creation. The project purposes can be summarized as the creation of a new instrument for the virtual musealization capable of including new data kinds and in-formation, suitable also for teaching and as support for bioanthropology lectures. It allows the musealization of excavations phases and of the analysis. It also contributes to the enhancement of the scientific activities thanks to a parallel database which saves data in suitable formats and to the software for the elaboration and measurement of the points cloud. Main features will be the FLOS (Free Libre and Open Source) philosophy, base of the developing; the technological instruments used, their affordable costs and problems; the definition level of Metaverse 3D models compared to reality items; future developments; new professions connected to the Metaverse and to Cultural Heritage and the possibility to consider the excavation site an experimental field-lab for the technological research in Archaeology.