The use of the high-resolution LiDAR DTM by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and for Protection of the Land and Sea in archeology

The increase of the cartographic open data availability, as well as the simplified use of the GIS processing application, allowed the archaeologists to analyse the data - acquired with traditional methods - in a single georeferenced ambient; from the historical maps, to the present digital land surveys (DTM). This process increased, by far, the data availability for the ancient time landscape reconstruction. The surprising results of the use of DTMs, made with LiDAR technology in the archaeological field, are known. Thanks to their potentials, they can provide a detailed landscape survey whenever covered by vegetation, revealing underground artefacts in case they have been preserved elevation evidence; positive or negative. Their capabilities have emerged in marginal areas, where the human intervention has been zero or minimal in the modern age: exceptional results have been obtained, for example, in the Cambodian jungle and in Mesoamerica, as well as in the European uncultivated areas, too.