## 1 Introduction  
In recent decades, archaeological research has increasingly become a multidisciplinary project, involving archaeologists in collaboration with scientists and professionals from different disciplines including geology, geopedology, geomorphology, and technical expertise [1, 2]. This collaboration tries to overcome the eventual lack of knowledge and wants to obtain significant results to improve the archaeological research [3]. The conservation scientist, as a new profession, reflects the increasing interest and represents the professional with the highest expertise in the research and valorisation activities on cultural heritage,including archaeological artefacts [4; 5]. This approach aims to integrate the object mesoscopic observation of superficial traces and raw material employed, which is a typical competency of archaeologists, with the advanced technologies derived from scientific field improvements. However, to improve the understanding of ancient artefacts and their intended usage, the so-called \"Low-Power Approach\" (LPA) for the first investigation of their characteristics is always required, too [6; 7]. Nevertheless, artefact examination may suffer from the degree of subjectivity inherent in the description of superficial traces and from the incapability to notice all the traces by the naked eye that may be overcome through new types of observational approaches, like innovative imaging techniques (e.g., Reflectance Transformation Imaging, Photogrammetry, or Optical Microscopy) [8]. Thus, archaeology is opened up to the defined \"Scientific turn\" [9], which can lead to new answers to archaeological problems that usually face archaeologists and researchers. In addition, it has been reported in recent years that there has been a notable increase in interest in the utilisation of digital tools and computer-based data analysis in the Cultural Heritage context [10] (pp. 35-46) [11]. Interestingly, new imaging techniques and 3D reconstruction technologies enable not only a new way of investigating Cultural Heritage but also new useful opportunities for their conservation and valorisation in museums [4; 12]. This tendency follows the development of the so-called \"3 rd Cultural (digital) Revolution\" [13], which includes in the real world the virtual environments generated by 3D modelling, augmented reality and the usage of smart tools (e.g., computers, tablets, touchscreens or QRcodes) connected with the WorldWideWeb. Owing to the up-to-date technologies and the fragile conditions of the archaeological findings, the present study aims to evidence how the application of non-invasive and non-destructive analytical techniques and imaging methods, adapted from their conventional field of study, can support archaeological research. Specific techniques were employed to analyse the samples, contingent upon the peculiar inquiry submitted by archaeologists. The digital techniques' potentiality as a means of valorising archaeological findings is further examined by the introduction of digital models into the museum collections. The samples used in the case study come from an extended area, comprising the Trebbia Valley and the Tidone Valley (Piacenza, Italy), and all date back to the Neolithic age. The biggest ones (S1 and S2) do not have a specific intended usage so far. With this intention, the application of the Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) methodology and the resulting RTI image serves as a tool for the first examination of anthropic and natural traces on the artefacts' surfaces with the final aim of formulating their hypothetical intended usage. In fact, the Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) method is commonly employed to enhance the traces on the surfaces of different types of objects [14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19], which are already known for their specific usage in ancient times [20; 21]. The other samples have a precise archaeological identification: sample R5 has been recognised as a fragment of mace and the remaining samples (R1, R2, R3, and R4) as ring bracelet shards.