Use of Polybolos on the City Walls of Ancient Pompeii: Assessment on the Anthropic Cavities

The authors present some of the results of the recent survey campaign carried out along the northern section of the city walls of the unearthed city. The paper focuses on the documentation of the site as the starting point of a workflow for analysing the morphological characteristics of the existing cavities. The 3D virtual casts, based on 3D reality-based survey, were obtained through reverse modelling procedures in order to provide useful data for the calculation of the parameters inherent to the terminal ballistics of the weapons used. The peculiar vicissitudes that characterise the excavation of ancient Pompeii exclude the possibility of any contamination by the impact of firearms. This makes the documentation of exceptional value for thinking about neuroballistic weapons, of which only a few damaged artefacts have partially survived. The use of polybolos, which has been hypothesised after careful consideration, confirms the usefulness of an independent space for the elaboration of original and transversal thoughts, guided by the collection of data and oriented by their graphic visualisation.