16th International Conference on “Cultural Heritage and New Technologies” Vienna, 2011 59 The Roman town of Ammaia (Portugal): From total survey to 3D reconstruction Cristina CORSI 1 / Michael KLEIN 2 / Guenther WEINLINGER 2 1 Department of Humanities and Philosophy, University of Cassino, Italy / 2 7Reasons Medien GmbH, Austria Abstract: Simultaneous with on-going archaeological excavations of the Roman town site of Ammaia in South-Central Portugal, a group of researchers acting within the EC funded project “Radiogra phy of the Past (Radio-Pastě”, have during the past two years, achieved a full coverage geophysical survey of the intra-mural part and large tracts of the extra-mural areas of this abandoned ancient city in Lusitania. Using a wide array of instruments, for prospections with GPR, earth resistance and magnetometers, this approach allowed an in depth analysis of an abandoned Roman centre, linking the excellent survey data with stratigraphic information, obtained via earlier excavations and via focused ground truthing operations, including small trenching and augering. Together with data from remote sensing and fine DGPS surveys this now allows to study the urbanism of a very systematically and ex novo built Romano-Lusitanian town. Part of the field project also leads to a tentative reconstruction of many aspects of the urban pattern and structures, providing a unique high resolution survey-based approach to visualising ancient cities. This paper presents aspects of integrated methodology of survey, high resolution mapping results and discusses the process of visualisation of the site in Roman times. Keywords: non-destructive survey, Roman towns, Lusitania, 3D Visualisation, Reconstruction. The project Ammaia: the framework As recent research is more and more proving (CAMPANA and PIRO 2009; CORSI and VERMEULEN 2010; VERMEULEN et al. 2012; MILLETT and JOHNSON forthcoming), the integrated approach, merging traditional instruments of research like surface artefacts collection, aerial photography interpretation, topographical survey and excavations, with up-to-date techniques of geophysical and geomorphological survey, is disclosing new perspectives in our knowledge of complex (still buried) archaeological sites. In most cases, this synergy allows the production of a 2D map of the site, where excavated evidence can be paralleled with buried structures detected via the interpretation of the geophysical survey and/or aerial photography coverage. Three-dimensional perspective can be achieved with the integration of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) data, corings, test pits, ground-truthing excavations and production of Digital Terrain Models (DTMs), while the overlap with the processing of the finds collected on the surface can enlighten some aspects of chronological occupation and evolution of the site. These peculiar aspects of studying and visualizing deserted archaeological sites are the core objectives of an EU funded project, the