Jul 2026· The Heritage· Vol 9, pp. 297· 0 citations· 46 references
Abstract
The archaeological reconstruction of historic monuments from fragmentary remains requires transforming limited evidence into verifiable hypotheses. This study proposes a methodological framework in which structural analysis plays an active interpretative role, rather than serving merely as verification, provided that input data are independently constrained and modelling assumptions align with the available level of knowledge. The framework is designed to be replicable and transferable to archaeological contexts characterised by incomplete preservation. It combines non-invasive survey techniques—high-resolution digital documentation and ground-penetrating radar (GPR)—to establish reliable geometric and physical constraints. Thrust-based limit analysis, following the Heyman Safe Theorem, is then applied to evaluate reconstruction hypotheses through static equilibrium under self-weight. The methodology is tested on the cavea of the Circus of Maxentius in Rome, a Roman concrete construction in which significant portions of the vaulted substructure are collapsed or buried. Three typological cross-sections are virtually reconstructed using construction-archaeology reasoning, measured geometry, and geophysical evidence. Their stability is assessed through thrust-line admissibility and geometric safety factors. Only one section approaches limit equilibrium when analysed independently, while the others prove inadmissible, suggesting that rear backfills, transverse supporting walls near the imperial corridor, and vaulted structures were essential to the original structural system. Overall, the study demonstrates how integrating non-invasive data and limit analysis reduces interpretative uncertainty in reconstructing partially preserved Roman architecture.
The study presented here forms part of an ongoing, more detailed research project and represents an initial step toward its broader development. It examines the interactions among structural logic, material degradation, environmental factors, and successive restoration phases, focusing on the cumulative nature of pathologies affecting walls, arches, vaults, and supporting elements. Rather than attributing deterioration to a single cause, the Capitolium is interpreted as a stratified architectural system in which material heterogeneity and post-constructional transformations are closely intertwined. Within this framework, the analysis of deformation patterns and equilibrium mechanisms in both vaulted and trabeated systems allows the identification of structural vulnerabilities while avoiding deterministic interpretations of failure. Particular attention is paid to the ambiguity of damage signatures in archaeological contexts, where seismic and non-seismic processes often overlap and are difficult to distinguish. The research integrates archaeological evidence, historical documentation, and structural analysis, highlighting the need for multi-criteria approaches in archaeoseismological interpretation and supporting an understanding of Roman architectural heritage as a dynamic and evolving system.
Implementing Historic Building Information Modelling (HBIM) for heritage structures is challenged by incomplete knowledge of hidden or inaccessible elements, as well as limited information on construction history, original design, and structural details, making geometric definition inherently uncertain. Simultaneously, applications such as structural analysis often require the same missing information. This study proposes an adaptive parametric Scan-to-BIM-to-FEM workflow that explicitly incorporates geometric uncertainty by generating multiple plausible and complete reconstructions from survey data and typological inference, enabling their use in parametric structural analysis. Starting from TLS survey, adaptive families were used to link measured and inferred dimensions through geometric constraints. The methodology is applied to the 19th-century masonry arch bridge of Montoggio (Genoa, Italy), currently characterized by a hybrid structural system resulting from subsequent retrofitting. Eight geometrical configurations were tested by varying uncertain parameters, including vault thickness and backing height, and were analyzed through modal and static finite element simulations. The results show a limited but non-negligible sensitivity of the structural response to these parameters, highlighting the influence of geometric uncertainties on analysis outcomes. In this light, the proposed framework provides a bridge between survey, modelling, and structural analysis, enabling HBIM to support interpretative and predictive structural assessment.
G. Sacco, Matilde Ridella, C. Calderini· Buildings· 0 citations
Historic environments require contemporary interventions to negotiate new spatial demands without treating heritage, public use, climatic affordances, and structural logic as separate concerns. This study examines parametric design as an architectural interface in a historically layered semi-open public space. Interface denotes the built relational system through which rule-based geometry negotiates historic and archaeological constraints, public-space organization, environmental affordances, and structural-geometric requirements. A qualitative critical single-case analysis of Metropol Parasol in Seville applies a literature-informed 12-criterion framework to published drawings, sections, photographs, project and engineering documentation, and academic sources. The project is not reconstructed through parametric modelling; no simulation, measurement, user survey, behavioural observation, accessibility audit, or comparative canopy test is conducted. Evidence is coded as supported, qualified, not supported, or not established and synthesized across spatial mediation, environmental responsiveness, and structural-geometric logic. The analysis supports relationships among variable grid geometry, support placement, ground-level permeability, programmatic layering, shading affordance, modular coordination, and documented constructability. Contextual continuity, access provision, daylight mediation, ventilation affordance, and structural organization remain qualified, while thermal-comfort outcomes are not established. The study contributes an interface-centred analytical lens that integrates domains usually treated separately in HBIM, performance-led parametric research, and historic public-space studies. Its transferability is methodological and conditional rather than predictive; the findings do not verify social vitality, universal accessibility, environmental performance, visual acceptance, or conservation outcomes.
The resolution of commingled human skeletal remains is a phenomenon increasingly encountered by archaeologists and anthropologists. Its difficulty is due to the complexity of the task itself, but also to the limited methodological resources available for researchers. Parallelly, its importance derives from the fact that individualized skeletons are a prerequisite for any anthropological analysis that aims to provide results. In this paper, we put forward a new methodological approach that aims to integrate different tools and techniques already available. The basis of this methodology is the analysis of the spatial relationships of the human skeletal remains. To facilitate its use and maximize its effectiveness, we have developed a set of specific tools and protocols that include a list of information to be directly recorded in Geographical Information System (GIS) software, as well as a new coding system for skeletal remains showing different levels of completeness. Results show that the application of such a methodology helped in the resolution of a large, commingled assemblage exhumed from a 16th-century-CE burial located in southwestern Hungary. The original number of complete skeletons (those individualized in their entirety during the fieldwork) was substantially increased, and for several other skeletal elements, potential matches were found during the laboratory work. We found this methodology to be a good filter prior to the utilization of the more standardized techniques such as osteometric sorting, articulation, visual pair-matching or process of elimination, as it would increase their effectiveness. Additionally, the novel coding system has proven to be useful in inventorying and storing human skeletal remains. This project shows that the addition of GIS technology and spatial analysis does increase the success rate in the reassociation of commingled human skeletal remains.
Marcos De Andrés Montero, Luca Kis, Olga Spekker et al.· PLoS ONE· 0 citations
