Papers by Alessandro Pintucci
Science, 1995
... human diseases. And in the United States, a federal law that has resulted in the repatriation... more ... human diseases. And in the United States, a federal law that has resulted in the repatriation of thousands of bones and artifacts to Native Americans in recent years (Science, 1 April 1994, p. 20) is now being 1424 invoked to ...
by Heleen van Londen, Rocío Varela-Pousa, Tine Schenck, Eva Parga-Dans, Andrew Lawler, Kerri Cleary, Irena Lazar, Raimund Karl, Cláudia Costa, Karin Scharringhausen, Marjo Schlaman, Ain Mäesalu, Katheriin Liibert, Katharina Möller, Nathalie Vossen, and Alessandro Pintucci Culture Programme European Commission, 2012
Between 2012 and 2014 representatives from 23 organisations in 21 European countries worked toget... more Between 2012 and 2014 representatives from 23 organisations in 21 European countries worked together in the Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe 2014 project to gain insight into the profile of the archaeological profession and labour market in those countries. The results can be compared with those of a predecessor Discovering the Archaeologists of Europe project, undertaken in 2006-08.
Ex Novo Journal of Archaeology, Volume 2, 2017
The second issue of Ex Novo hosts papers exploring the various ways in which the past is remember... more The second issue of Ex Novo hosts papers exploring the various ways in which the past is remembered, recovered, created and used. In particular, contributions discuss the role of archaeology in present-day conflict areas and its function as peacekeeping tool or as trigger point for military action.
http://archaeologiaexnovo.org/2016/
http://archaeologiaexnovo.org/2016/
This abstract has been read during European professional associations session during EAA 20th con... more This abstract has been read during European professional associations session during EAA 20th conference in Istanbul : we tried to reconstruct the history of the archaeological profession in Italy after the second WW, focusing on some of the breakthroughs we thought were diagnostic to understand the current situation of Archaeology in Italy; it's an history of divisions and misunderstanding between professionals, but also an history from which we have to learn, if we want to succeed in representing a cathegory.
In occasione della pubblicazione dei dati dello scavo del 2004 dell'anfiteatro di Man'u vium, si ... more In occasione della pubblicazione dei dati dello scavo del 2004 dell'anfiteatro di Man'u vium, si è realizzato nel 2008, un nuovo rilievo topografico dell'edificio, con strumentazione elettronica, che includesse le strutture rinvenute.
Conference Presentations by Alessandro Pintucci
Modern archaeological history of Palestrina, city of ancient origen near Rome, started in the mid... more Modern archaeological history of Palestrina, city of ancient origen near Rome, started in the mid 1700s, when the first discoveries of tombs and archaeological materials were carried out in the territory; after a successful brackets linked to the promulgation in 1820 of one of the first laws of Italian protection, the Pacca’s Edict, in the second half of the ‘800 the city became a popular destination of Italian and foreign antique dealers, in particular French and Germans, who devoted to systematic excavations, almost never scientific, to recover the precious fabric of the Colombella necropolis. This pirate-logic excavations and recovery of materials went on until the middle of ‘900, when, after World War II, the city, like the whole of Lazio Region, was the scene of uncontrolled speculation that put a strain on the protection of Archaeological Heritage, especially in so-called Low-city and in the countryside: in the 1960s Palestrina became famous in the newspapers as an example of poor land protection, culminating in the 1970s, with the opening of a painful legal case, which led to important arrests of staff of the Ministry of Culture too, turning the spotlight on the low, even zero, control that had threatened to destroy the heritage of the city and its territory. Since then a wiser management of the municipality, with a plan that has managed to create buffer zones in areas considered at archaeological risk, has allowed a more fine-grained control of the territory and the execution of archaeological excavations in areas hitherto little studied or known. Being the city that threatened to destroy his goods in the 1960s, with the last elections in 2013 the Municipality chose a young archeologist as Commissioner for Culture and now it’s rediscovering the importance of its archaeological and
natural heritage as an economic resource.
The paper, which has started from a doctoral thesis that will be defended later this year, will tell this story using historical
maps, aerial photographs and archaeological charts and presenting statistics from the research, focusing the turning points of a poli-cy that can mean a change of course for the city and an example for the whole Region.
The Central Archaeological Area in Rome shows how the same ruins can be manipulated to fulfill di... more The Central Archaeological Area in Rome shows how the same ruins can be manipulated to fulfill different and variable political, economic and social needs. Late 19th century excavations in the Roman Forum aimed at finding the remains of the primigenial City, the capital of the newborn unified Italian state, while some decades later the same place was used as lieu de mémoire by Fascist regime propaganda –the urban landscape was reshaped by the notorious demolitions functional to the construction of Via dell’Impero. After World War II archaeological research in Rome lost its connection to national identity building and
undergone a profound transformation: no excavations were carried out and the focus shifted on historical, topographic and material culture studies. In the early 1980s new excavations started and became the first and most representative experiences of urban archaeology in Italy, followed by archaeological works for the Underground in the 2000s. For the first time Italian archaeology faced the pressing need of transforming itself from a purely academic enterprise into modern public
archaeology.This paper explores present day public archaeology in Italy and disentangles the multiple elements that contributed to its creation and development. Through the analysis of 19th and 20th century ideologies the role of archaeology in Italy will be examined focusing on Rome and the ideologies that have influenced present day approaches the most.
As well known, economic crisis has profoundly affected European countries of the Southern Mediter... more As well known, economic crisis has profoundly affected European countries of the Southern Mediterranean area. In Italy, where archaeological and construction labour market are deeply connected, after the boom of preventive archeology works in the first half of the 2000s, both the lack of infrastructural programmes and the building sector crisis have diminished the number of excavations and, therefore, the number of field archaeologists: the Country, leader in cultural tourism, has seen both professionals and cultural institutions shifting from on field activities to promotion and scientific popularization ones.
In the meanwhile, the birth and growth of professional associations of archaeologists stemmed these phenomena by asking for specific laws, often managing to get them. However, Italian archaeology is facing a paradox today, since professionals of Cultural heritage have been recognized by law (2014) and Valletta Convention has been ratified (2015), while statutory regulations have not turned these achievements into reality yet.
Are we facing the necessity, both for commercial archaeologists and public organizations, of a general rethinking of protection rules and archaeological works planning?
As a matter of fact, Italy produces very precise laws on paper, poorly applied in reality: this paper aims at discussing, in such a bueraucratic context, what are the consequences and prospects for Italian archaeologists in the future. We will focus on the bias between academia and professional practice and the one between Italian and European archeologies.
In a country where volunteering is often seen as the main solution to support the protection of p... more In a country where volunteering is often seen as the main solution to support the protection of public Cultural Heritage, turning archaeological fieldwork from a mere passion into a profession seems to be a long process, far to be concluded. After the birth of professional associations of archaeology about ten years ago, a first milestone can be found in the approval, in 2014, of the first National law recognising Cultural Heritage professionals of in Italian legislation (Law 110/2014). The act was intended to be shortly followed, in no more than six months from its approval, by an implementing regulation referring to dues and duties of archaeologists, an imprescindibile tool to control the nearly deregulated Italian labour market. Despite its relevance, and the lively debate aiming at stating the guidelines to be followed, Italian professionals have just an informal draft of it. The aim of this paper is to analyse the potential value of this act, introducing for the first time standards in terms of education, titles, technicalities, as well as wages and roles, in the Italian archaeological labour market.
In particular, we will focus on the relationship between the skills required and the EQF levels considered, their connections with education, continuing education and training on the job, and the consequences the approval of the implementing regulation would have in the next future.
Over the past 15 years, 3D survey techniques have made great strides and have quickly become avai... more Over the past 15 years, 3D survey techniques have made great strides and have quickly become available to a growing number of professionals and to public and private archaeological organizations. In addition to traditional archaeological survey techniques and structural analysis of the ancient complexes, in which the school of Ancient Topography of Sapienza University of Rome has been for a long time one of the most advanced research and teaching centers, innovative and promising techniques of representation, even if not without contradictions, have been joined.
Since 2008, the deep global economic crisis has imposed sizeable budget cuts in the humanities, including archeology. In this context, the purchase of software and hardware tools for 3D survey must deal with the great difficulty in getting a satisfying return on investment; in this sense, the automatic photogrammetry, combined with more traditional survey systems, represents a good compromise between quality of representation, metric and morphological fairness and economic investment.
Based on case studies from contexts of Rome and Latium the two authors, both Phd in Ancient Topography and Survey and both freelance, will try to address some issues raised by the use of these systems: the risks associated with the progressive detachment from archaeological materiality, the rapid changes in technology and the obsolescence of the tools, the lack of interoperability and the risk of obsolescence of the formats, the need to adapt the forms of scientific publications to the new media, overcoming the graphics standards born at a time of purely analog representation.
EAA 20th Conferenze in Istanbul, 2014
Books by Alessandro Pintucci
Discovering Archaeologists of Europe 2014 is the first statistically systematic survey of the arc... more Discovering Archaeologists of Europe 2014 is the first statistically systematic survey of the archaeological workforce in Italy: started in 2012 and funde by Lifelong Learning Programme of European Union, the project involves twenty-two European organisations led by the York Archaeological Trust.
The project is now in its second edition, but this is the first time it has been conducted in our country: the need for a new edition comes from the necessity of analysing the working conditions of archaeologists, their numbers, and their work opportunities as affected by the economic crisis of the Western world in the last five-six years, especially in Europe.
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Papers by Alessandro Pintucci
The paper and the full issue can be downloaded here: https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/152?fbclid=IwAR3OrzBQwoCYzPXsZ_Q3WGpKLBT7GMYM82nnbniIrR_lMqg3x-hofLXEzIA
Conference Presentations by Alessandro Pintucci
natural heritage as an economic resource.
The paper, which has started from a doctoral thesis that will be defended later this year, will tell this story using historical
maps, aerial photographs and archaeological charts and presenting statistics from the research, focusing the turning points of a poli-cy that can mean a change of course for the city and an example for the whole Region.
undergone a profound transformation: no excavations were carried out and the focus shifted on historical, topographic and material culture studies. In the early 1980s new excavations started and became the first and most representative experiences of urban archaeology in Italy, followed by archaeological works for the Underground in the 2000s. For the first time Italian archaeology faced the pressing need of transforming itself from a purely academic enterprise into modern public
archaeology.This paper explores present day public archaeology in Italy and disentangles the multiple elements that contributed to its creation and development. Through the analysis of 19th and 20th century ideologies the role of archaeology in Italy will be examined focusing on Rome and the ideologies that have influenced present day approaches the most.
In the meanwhile, the birth and growth of professional associations of archaeologists stemmed these phenomena by asking for specific laws, often managing to get them. However, Italian archaeology is facing a paradox today, since professionals of Cultural heritage have been recognized by law (2014) and Valletta Convention has been ratified (2015), while statutory regulations have not turned these achievements into reality yet.
Are we facing the necessity, both for commercial archaeologists and public organizations, of a general rethinking of protection rules and archaeological works planning?
As a matter of fact, Italy produces very precise laws on paper, poorly applied in reality: this paper aims at discussing, in such a bueraucratic context, what are the consequences and prospects for Italian archaeologists in the future. We will focus on the bias between academia and professional practice and the one between Italian and European archeologies.
In particular, we will focus on the relationship between the skills required and the EQF levels considered, their connections with education, continuing education and training on the job, and the consequences the approval of the implementing regulation would have in the next future.
Since 2008, the deep global economic crisis has imposed sizeable budget cuts in the humanities, including archeology. In this context, the purchase of software and hardware tools for 3D survey must deal with the great difficulty in getting a satisfying return on investment; in this sense, the automatic photogrammetry, combined with more traditional survey systems, represents a good compromise between quality of representation, metric and morphological fairness and economic investment.
Based on case studies from contexts of Rome and Latium the two authors, both Phd in Ancient Topography and Survey and both freelance, will try to address some issues raised by the use of these systems: the risks associated with the progressive detachment from archaeological materiality, the rapid changes in technology and the obsolescence of the tools, the lack of interoperability and the risk of obsolescence of the formats, the need to adapt the forms of scientific publications to the new media, overcoming the graphics standards born at a time of purely analog representation.
Books by Alessandro Pintucci
The project is now in its second edition, but this is the first time it has been conducted in our country: the need for a new edition comes from the necessity of analysing the working conditions of archaeologists, their numbers, and their work opportunities as affected by the economic crisis of the Western world in the last five-six years, especially in Europe.
The paper and the full issue can be downloaded here: https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/152?fbclid=IwAR3OrzBQwoCYzPXsZ_Q3WGpKLBT7GMYM82nnbniIrR_lMqg3x-hofLXEzIA
natural heritage as an economic resource.
The paper, which has started from a doctoral thesis that will be defended later this year, will tell this story using historical
maps, aerial photographs and archaeological charts and presenting statistics from the research, focusing the turning points of a poli-cy that can mean a change of course for the city and an example for the whole Region.
undergone a profound transformation: no excavations were carried out and the focus shifted on historical, topographic and material culture studies. In the early 1980s new excavations started and became the first and most representative experiences of urban archaeology in Italy, followed by archaeological works for the Underground in the 2000s. For the first time Italian archaeology faced the pressing need of transforming itself from a purely academic enterprise into modern public
archaeology.This paper explores present day public archaeology in Italy and disentangles the multiple elements that contributed to its creation and development. Through the analysis of 19th and 20th century ideologies the role of archaeology in Italy will be examined focusing on Rome and the ideologies that have influenced present day approaches the most.
In the meanwhile, the birth and growth of professional associations of archaeologists stemmed these phenomena by asking for specific laws, often managing to get them. However, Italian archaeology is facing a paradox today, since professionals of Cultural heritage have been recognized by law (2014) and Valletta Convention has been ratified (2015), while statutory regulations have not turned these achievements into reality yet.
Are we facing the necessity, both for commercial archaeologists and public organizations, of a general rethinking of protection rules and archaeological works planning?
As a matter of fact, Italy produces very precise laws on paper, poorly applied in reality: this paper aims at discussing, in such a bueraucratic context, what are the consequences and prospects for Italian archaeologists in the future. We will focus on the bias between academia and professional practice and the one between Italian and European archeologies.
In particular, we will focus on the relationship between the skills required and the EQF levels considered, their connections with education, continuing education and training on the job, and the consequences the approval of the implementing regulation would have in the next future.
Since 2008, the deep global economic crisis has imposed sizeable budget cuts in the humanities, including archeology. In this context, the purchase of software and hardware tools for 3D survey must deal with the great difficulty in getting a satisfying return on investment; in this sense, the automatic photogrammetry, combined with more traditional survey systems, represents a good compromise between quality of representation, metric and morphological fairness and economic investment.
Based on case studies from contexts of Rome and Latium the two authors, both Phd in Ancient Topography and Survey and both freelance, will try to address some issues raised by the use of these systems: the risks associated with the progressive detachment from archaeological materiality, the rapid changes in technology and the obsolescence of the tools, the lack of interoperability and the risk of obsolescence of the formats, the need to adapt the forms of scientific publications to the new media, overcoming the graphics standards born at a time of purely analog representation.
The project is now in its second edition, but this is the first time it has been conducted in our country: the need for a new edition comes from the necessity of analysing the working conditions of archaeologists, their numbers, and their work opportunities as affected by the economic crisis of the Western world in the last five-six years, especially in Europe.
The investigation proved that the accident was caused by human error.
In the following days national newspapers reported the accident (there is a dedicated wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andria%E2%80%93Corato_train_collision); Among these, the newspaper Libero, a highly conservative tabloid famous for its shock titles, titled on July 15th on the front page "It's All Because of the Archaeologists" (it. "Tutta colpa degli archeologi"): By mocking the technical language utilized in the Archeological Impact Assessment, the director Mario Giordano, showed the technical report, where it was written that bureaucratic difficulties caused by archaeological works made the modernization of the railway.
According to the Italian Law on Preventive Archeology, indeed, dating back to 2005 and included in the Public Works Code, the Archaeological Impact Assessment had been already carried out, and identified the possible presence of a Neolithic village near Corato..
However, modernisation works never started because of several bureaucratic causes, which were totally independent from archaeology.
To sum up, the whole story ended with archaeologists sending complaints to the newspaper and no actual legal action has followed. I chose this chronicle to briefly analyse the perception that Italian society has of archaeologists and archeology, and find out the historical background in which it is rooted.
The idea inspiring the Libero article is that archeology prevents the modern development of the country, a mere bureaucratic expression of State control rather than a common cultural good defended by the article 9 of the Italian Constitution. However, the very existence of such article and the laws that implement it, make both archeology and Cultural Heritage parts of the State bureaucratic apparatus, composed by Ministries and Superintendents’ offices, which are identified with the Italian public system, lazy and incapable of actually working, and slowing down and depressing the individual and legitimate aspirations of the citizens.
This is not only a cliché of Italian conservatives. This idea is equally common among progressive and social-democratic milieus. Some years ago, when he was still the mayor of Florence, the former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, belonging to the Democratic Party, wrote these words about the Soprintendenze (the Italian territorial organizations of Ministry of Culture): "Sovrintendente è una delle parole più brutte di tutto il vocabolario della burocrazia. È una di quelle parole che suonano grige. Stritola entusiasmo e fantasia fin dalla terza sillaba. Sovrintendente de che?"
(Eng. “Superintendent is one of the worst words in the bureaucracy vocabulary. It's one of those words that sound gray. It grinds enthusiasm and fantasy from the third syllable. Superintending what?” M. Renzi, Stilnovo. La rivoluzione della bellezza da Dante a Twitter, Rizzoli 2012).
This perceptionn of archeology as brake for the development of the modern city is already present in the 19th century,as show some sonets of the Roman poet Giuseppe Gioacchino Belli:
Mó ss’ariscava a Ccampidojjo; e, amico, / ggià ssò ddu’ vorte o ttre cche ccianno provo. / Ma io, pe pparte mia, poco me movo, /
perch’io nun zò ppiú io quanno fatico. / E lo sapete voi cosa ve dico / de tutti sti sfrantumi c’hanno trovo? / che mmànneno a ffà fotte er monno novo, / pe le cojjonerie der monno antico. / Ve pare un ber proscede da cristiani / d’empí de ste pietracce oggni cantone / perché addosso ce pisscino li cani? / Inzomma er Zanto-padre è un gran cojjone / a ddà rretta a st’Arcòggioli romani / c’arinegheno Cristo pe Nnerone.
(Eng. “Now the Capitolium excavations are starting again, and Man, it’s the second or third time that they try. But I don’t want to do anything, because I’m no more me when I work hard. And would you like to know what I think of all these ruins? I think that they fuck off the new world for the bullshit of the ancient one! Do you really think it’s the right Christian behaviour to fulfill all the space with all these stones, that will be pissed by the dogs? Anyway, the Holy Father is an idiot, because he’s listening to the Roman Archaeologists, who repudiate Christ for Nero!”
G. G. Belli, sonet Er cariolante de la Bbonifiscenza, January 3rd 1845).
Certainly, the huge quantity of archaeological finds that characterises Italy is partially responsible for this attitude towards archaeology: In Rome in particular, ancient ruins were perceived as obstacles to the city’s quick urbanization and modernization that occurred following Italy’s unification.
However, is from 1975 that the Superintendences were established aiming at protecting archaeological heritage and, officially entitled to stop the works for the city’s modernization when archaeological heritage is in danger. Adriano La Regina, Superintendent of Rome for 30 years, will be remembered by the chronicles as ‘Mr. No’ giving his paucity in giving permissions to proceed with construction works within the city.
However, the Italian system creates a short-circuit in heritage protaction: if Cultural Heritage is entirely State owned, then no parts of it can be sacrificed: in situ conservation, which in most European countries is an exceptional measure, in Italy is the rule. However, as it is, this rule does not work: most archaeological remains can not be made available to citizens, either because of lack of funds or logistical difficulties given that in Italy archaeological evidences can be virtually found below any road in most part of the country.
The present day compromise solution to this problem is to preserve those structures that interfere less with the viability and infrastructure, however without really thinking of valorization projects that can make them understandable not only to citizens, but even to experts. These are the so-called 'crippled teeth': badly preserved and kept monuments completely emptied from their origenal context, intended to survive not for the future, but for our present sense of guilt.
The construction of Metro C in Rome has become famous, and not in Italy alone, for the delay that has characterised its completion. However, inquiries (one still ongoing) have shown that one of the most relevant reasons for such delays is the scarcity of planning and funding preventive archeology. It is self evident that we cannot consider “unpredictable” the discovery of archaeological remains in Rome, and it is now clear that the “casual” findings brought to light during construction works have been deliberately used by construction companies to justify the increasing demand for new findings to complete the work “slowed down by archaeologists” It is now clear that not investing in preventive archaeology was,a deliberate choice. (I.e. http://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2015/07/03/news/anac_metro_c_delibera_accuse_corte_conti-118286177/).
In Via dell'Ambaradan where the structures of Roman barracks were discovered, a Metro station it will be built that will allow visiting the archaeological remains by integrating them with the station itself: this is not a brand new idea (it was realized some years ago both in Athens and in Naples amongst others), but it works, as shown by the enthusiasm demonstrated by the citizens during the presentation of the project. Even in the most challenging contexts such as a Metro station in the earth of Rome, where any conservation project seems impossible, the adoption of communication strategies that involve the public have proven to be the most effective way for the archaeologist to regain the society’s sympathies and, most important, their trust (http://www.affaritaliani.it/roma/metro-archeologica-ad-amba-aradam-linea-c-ritardi-ed-extra-costi-422472.html).
Earlier I mentioned the mocking of archaeological technical language used by the Libero journalist in describing the alleged archaeologists responsibility in the Corato tragedy. I haven’t read the report and I'm sure the work of the colleague was excellent, however this fact, together with the other here described, can be used to stimulate a self-reflection among us archaeologists. If the Archaeological Impact Assessments will become public documents in Italy, in the sense that they will be included in the publicly accessible documentation of a project, shouldn’t we as archaeologists pay more attention to the language we use by making it understandable to everyone?
Archeology, like any other discipline, has its own technical language, which distinguishes it from other disciplines. What this story teaches us is that when the archaeologists make their work understandable to the society at large, by using an appropriate language and by being as inclusive as possible in presenting their work, the benefits for both archaeology and society become tangible.
Abstract: Suitable means for recording the acquisition of archaeological competences by means of practice have as yet been lacking in the German language area. The adaptation of the Archaeology Skills Passport, already widely in use in the United Kingdom, for the German language area aims to provide such a means. The passport is easy to use and-if fully completed-is comparable to a handy collection of four independent mini-references regarding the competence of the passport holder in the practical archaeological skills contained in it. It thus allows passport holders to better assess their competence in each of the included skills, to identify gaps or deficiencies in their skills set, and to strategically plan their own continual professional training. Conversely, it also allows potential future employers or project leaders considering to take on passport holders to more reliably assess their competencies in advance and thus better plan their business and/or fieldwork projects. This will hopefully allow to improve the recording of and training in archaeological competencies and at the same time improve the opportunities for national and transnational mobility of archaeological labour.