Cultural Heritage and Preservation
Recently, LiDAR data has been used to reconstruct monuments like Notre Dame Cathedral (Paris) and the medieval walls at Volterra (Italy).[1] Similarly, in coordination with the Archaeological Park, this project uses LiDAR to conserve and protect world heritage into perpetuity. The archaeological park of Cerveteri is a UNESCO World Heritage site comprised of upwards of 2,000 high-risk chamber tombs. The urgency of conservation and heritage management became apparent after the 2025 field season, upon the discovery that 4 out of the 250 tombs had collapsed over the course of one year.
Conservators have observed that the site of Cerveteri is particularly at risk due to the dense vegetation that covers the tombs and its location in a volcanic region prone to earthquakes.[2] While some work has been done, the majority of this research is focused within the Banditaccia region, while the greater extent of the park, remains at risk.[3] To add to the risk, an estimated 99.5% of these tombs located within sections remain undocumented.[4] Thus, without any documentation, there is an exceptionally high risk of losing heritage and with it, any knowledge that could have been gained.
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(Left) LiDAR capture of a tomb (Right) the same tomb now collapsed and completely inaccesible
Two way exchange: Education and Educating
The Etruscan Tomb Survey is committed to continual education in heritage methods, both in educating scholars, students, and the public on conservation heritage, and through staying up to date on the latest technologies for conservation heritage.
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Accordingly, core staff members of the project have been invited to attend the International Digital Preservation Workshop, at the Volterra-Detroit Foundation, Volterra, Italy, to take place April 12-24, 2026.
Works Cited
[1] Grzeszczuk, M., Skorupska, K., Grabarczyk, P., Fuchs, W., Aubin, P. F., Dietrick, M. E., . . . Kopeć, W. (2024). Preserving Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage: The Cases of Volterra and Atari. Paper presented at the Digital Interaction and Machine Intelligence, Cham.; Jacquot, K., & Saleri, R. (2024). Gathering, integration, and interpretation of heterogeneous data for the virtual reconstruction of the Notre Dame de Paris roof structure. Journal of Cultural Heritage, 65, 232-240. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2023.06.010 [2] Caneva, G., Benelli, F., Bartoli, F., & Cicinelli, E. (2018). Safeguarding natural and cultural heritage on Etruscan tombs (La Banditaccia, Cerveteri, Italy). Rendiconti Lincei. Scienze Fisiche e Naturali, 29(4), 891-907. doi:10.1007/s12210-018-0730-7 [3] Borgioli, L., Morezzi, E., & Vagnarelli, T. (2023). Prime considerazioni sul progetto di ricerca Co. RA Ve.: applicazioni di prodotti sperimentali per la conservazione del patrimonio archeologico. RESTAURO ARCHEOLOGICO, 1, 360-367. [4] Out of roughly 600 tombs along the Via della Necropoli, 5 have been recorded. It is anticipated that another 600 tombs exist along the Via degli Inferi, one of which has been documented. Information courtesy of Baylé, forthcoming