Return to the invisible: a valorisation project of the Oscan necropolis in Cuma

The Tomba del Banchetto per l’Eternita discovered in 2018 by the archaeologists of Centre Jean Berard in Cuma is one of the most outstanding funeral monuments in southern Italy dated back to the first half of the 1st century BC, both for the structure and decoration styles. The tomb has a hypogeum chamber with vaulted ceiling built with tuff blocks, decorated with a banquet scene, representing one of the rare coeval examples of figurative representations both in domestic and funerary contexts. The tomb has been the object of a wide research program that includes archeo-historical arguments along with archaeometric analyses of pigments and mortar-based materials. Moreover, three-dimensional photogrammetric survey of the entire tomb has been performed, in order to reconstruct its 3D model. The model was implemented with all the information acquired during the research with the aim of making accessible, as much as possible, the impressive tomb to the public. It allowed creating a virtual visit of the tomb, now available in two types of format: a docufilm and an app. The virtual tour was designed for painting a complete portrait of all elements featuring the discovery, reconstructing its story, from the first excavation performed by the Centre Jean Berard archaeologists, also evoking the practices of archaeological research from scholars of the 19th century to archaeologists of the 21st century, then moving to the archaeometric campaign. Panels describing the most important results obtaining by the archaeometric research, both during in-situ campaign by means of multispectral imaging and vibrational spectroscopic techniques and in-lab analyses (Germinario et al., 2019), have been also integrated in the virtual visit of the tomb. Thus, the viewer, will make aware on pigments composition, painting techniques, raw materials used for producing the mortar-based supports as well as building technologies, along with deeply admires the stylistic peculiarities of the decoration. A background narration immersing the visitor into the detail regarding the excavation and the studies here performed is the next expected outcome that could not be addressed during this first phase but which would deserve a more universal dissemination format.