This contribution summarizes the multiple uses of 3D web technologies in commercial archaeology. Considering the breadth of this topic, we will describe each different branch of these technologies with the example of case studies based on work of the Italian company Arc-Team. Our overview begins with 3D visualization for scientific purposes, showing a project funded by the Autonomous Province of South Tyrol (Italy) in order to improve knowledge about WWI. Second, we analyze a similar project, funded by the Autonomous Province of Trentino (Italy), but with the aim to increase tourism at a high alpine WWI site. The third example is the development of another prototype for tourism: a 3D web-map for the cultural valorization of the historical border (1753) between the region Tyrol and the Most Serene Republic of Venice. In the forth case study, we discuss the implementation of 3D within web platforms for archaeological project management of RAPTOR (Ricerca Archivi e Pratiche per la Tutela Operativa Regionale), a webGIS developed to aid in preservation and conservation efforts of cultural heritage for the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism (MiBACT). Fifth, we explore recent uses of 3D models for web-coworking during the process of excavation management, thanks to the developments of real-time 3D acquisition techniques based on SLAM algorithms and archeorobotic devices. Finally, 3D webcoworking is also analyzed illustrating some simple web tools that afford rapid feedback in data visualization, considering not only excavation fieldwork but also exploration projects. This overview, based on six different case studies, represents the four fields in which 3D web technologies are currently used in commercial archaeology: scientific communication; tourism improvement; preservation of cultural heritage; and real time fieldwork management. Some specific topics such as tourism improvement and fieldwork management are investigated in greater depth in order to allow us to analyze variables deriving from customer requests (e.g. restrictions regarding sensitive geolocation or preferences for specific web platforms) and from differences among data acquisition technologies based on various sensors.

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Climatic deterioration lasting until the 19th century brought about a marked advance of the glaciers with some serious consequences for the population. The theologian and writer Beda Weber (1798–1859) attempted to explain the phenomenon of the progressive downward shift of the treeline in the Schnals Valley: ‘With astonishment the inhabitants of the Schnals Valley witnessed the extinction of the forests from high up down towards the valley (A phenomenon which occurs in many principal valleys and is not yet fully explained). They saw it as the gradual extinction of the World, and to them it seemed that even now the light was becoming dimmer’. Since the middle of the 19th century climate change has been observed, with warming leading to a retreat of the glaciers and a gradual thawing of the permafrost soils. This dramatic process has already been monitored and recorded in various glaciers in South Tyrol. In recent years the rapid retreat of the glaciers has continued unhindered. Numerous reports of finds prompted the South Tyrol provincial heritage service, the Amt für Bodendenkmäler, to carry out archaeological investigations, which have revealed important new aspects relating to the use of the high altitude regions by people in the past.

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