L’Atlante Archeologico di Lecce

This paper summarises the research carried out by the Archaeological Mapping Labo ratory of the Institute for Heritage Science of CNR to produce the archaeological map of Lecce. Considering the settlement history of the city, which has seen the diachronic overlap of different cities in the current town’s historic centre, the archaeological knowledge appears to be very frag mented. The research therefore, aimed to integrate all available data on a large scale map, began with meticulous and in-depth archival and bibliographic research, which made it possible to re cord all the fortuitous and systematic archaeological finds that have taken place in the city since the late 19th century, when urban transformations involving the historic centre brought to light important evidence of the past, starting with Messapian necropolises and the Roman amphitheatre. This evidence was combined with data obtained from geophysical investigations performed by the geophysics Laboratory of the same CNR Institute, the results of the “Lecce Sotterranea” urban archaeology project of the Salento University and the discoveries made during preventive archae ology activities carried out by the Archaeological Superintendence. These data were integrated and managed in a dedicated GIS project, which made it possible to map the archaeological evidence. The results of the research will produce a printed edition of the map under the editorial guise of an Archaeological Atlas, including a catalogue devoted to the description of each archaeological re cord and a section devoted to the historical evolution of the city from the Iron age to the Medieval times showing also diachronic maps.