The Surveying and Representation Process Applied to Archaeology: A Quest for Invariants in a Highly Variable Context

The study and analysis of archaeological elements often swings from large sites to small objects. This variability in dimensions and typology actually determines an equal variability of problems encountered during the surveying and representation process so that it is hard to retrieve a reliable common theoretical and operational background able to guide the researcher through the various steps. The problems connected with the interpretation of data (and their lack of clarity) disturb in fact considerably the final goal of surveying: achieve the most profound knowledge of the object analyzed. Taking into consideration numerous survey campaigns carried out for years, this chapter seeks to present a modus operandi that seems to be indispensable for standardizing and regulating procedures of data collecting, elaborating and representing applied by our research team from the Department of History, Drawing and Restoration of Architecture (Sapienza—University of Rome), the aim being to make the final result scientific, i.e. more objective and correct. Together with a general methodological framing, we shall describe a number of research projects spanning from large sites (Petra), single buildings/architectural structures (The Temple of Divus Claudio, Rome) and small objects (Tombs and artifacts in Crustumerium – Rome).