Remote Sensing and AI Approaches for Investigating the Invisible Poleis of Heloros and Kamarina, Sicily

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As part of the Digital Heritage Research Colloquium, Prof. Dr. Nicola Lercari from LMU Munich’s Institute for Digital Cultural Heritage Studies will present a lecture titled “Remote Sensing and AI Approaches for Investigating the Invisible Poleis of Heloros and Kamarina, Sicily.”

Abstract:

The Greek settlements of Heloros and Kamarina, founded in the eighth and sixth centuries BCE along the southeastern and southern coasts of Sicily, played significant roles during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Despite decades of archaeological research, key aspects of their history, urban development, and topography remain insufficiently understood. To address these gaps, our recent work applies a multi-scale digital archaeological workflow that integrates traditional and cutting-edge methods. Using GIS, we have generated new site maps that combine historical cartography, legacy excavation data, satellite imagery, airborne LiDAR from the Italian Ministry of the Environment, and newly acquired drone-based LiDAR surveys conducted in 2023–2024. Furthermore, this lecture presents our latest experiments employing generative AI and machine learning–based LiDAR classification to refine the detection, interpretation, and visualization of archaeological features. This integrated approach contributes to reconstructing the settlements’ paleoenvironment, urban fabric, and peri-urban dynamics, while offering data-driven insights to inform sustainable territorial management around the respective archaeological parks, which are increasingly threatened by erosion, urbanization, and agricultural expansion.

The lecture takes place on Thursday, 13 November 2025, at 18:00 c.t., in Lecture Hall A119, LMU Main Building, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1.

Flyer Download: Prof. Nicola Lercari Public Lecture (JPG, 5,847 KB)