Innovative technologies in underwater archeology:field experience, open problems and research lines

The exploitation of marine technological innovations in the field of underwater archaeology has been mainly associated in the past with the exploration phase, in a sort of “treasure-hunt” fashion. However, the combined progress in such diverse fields as underwater acoustics, robotics, image processing, computer graphics, and decision support systems has not yet been directed towards the need for underwater archaeological research. Starting from the field experience gathered in a series of archaeological cruises in the North Tyrrhenian Sea, in which the combined use of state-of-the-art underwater tethered robots and sonar systems has been tested by a multidisciplinary group, the paper reviews some ongoing technological developments that may be merged toward the final goal of fully automated detection and inspection of an archaeological site. In particular, current advances in 3-D acoustic backscattering measurements for remote inspection of buried artefacts and vision-based robot control methodologies for fine positioning and accurate site survey are described.