This is an introductory Earth Science course dealing with the application of geo-sciences to Cultural Heritage. It covers geo-chemical, mineralogical, petrographic and geological aspects regarding the mineral resources and the building materials most commonly used in monuments and art works with special reference to Cultural Heritage items in the north-western Tuscany area.

Archaeometrical study of artefacts and their raw materials includes the characterization and provenance determination of natural building stones and other interesting building materials (bricks, tiles, mortar, etc.) in relation to environment geology as well as the technology of glass, metal and ceramic production.

Geoarchaeological investigations include the reconstruction of the ancient landscapes by remote sensing techniques, the recognition of relief patterns and human structures by the usual photo-interpretation methods, the topographic data acquisition for reconstructing the ancient morphologies as well as the application of user-friendly Geographic Information Systems for representing, storing and processing geological and archaeological data.