The Role of Representation in Archaeological Architecture

The representation, analysis and interpretation of elements of archaeological heritage is a painstaking activity. It also includes a wide range of interdisciplinary subjects and competencies. The interrelation between different disciplines opens up the possibility to achieve complete results as far as documentation, analysis and interpretation of the Archaeological Architecture (AA) are concerned. On one hand, the archaeologist can use explorable and measurable 2D and 3D high precision models, which realistically show surface qualities; on the other hand, architects can turn to their advantage archaeologists’ extensive knowledge of correctly interpreting data in their historical and metric framework and to verify interpretative hypotheses. The proposed paper, starting with the integrated survey of archaeological structures of high historical and artistic importance, like the Colosseum, Pantheon and Arch of Janus in Rome, analyses the possibilities offered by the survey and the representation of Archaeological Architecture at different scales.