Abstract. The paper shows the results of an experimentation on the use of low cost tools such as action cameras for the photogrammetric surveying of relevant archaeological sites characterized by the presence of narrow and complex rooms. The archaeological site chosen for this experimentation is the South-Western Quarter, also known as Quartiere Levi, of the Minoan Palace of Phaistos (Crete), one of only two cases of buildings surviving up to the third floor in the Aegean world. The research foresaw the setting up of a pipeline aimed at obtaining a complete scaled, photorealistic and navigable 3D model, with a considerable economy in terms of work time and number of photographs. For this purpose, many efforts have been paid on solving all the issues related to the complexity of the site and on comparing the performances of traditional (Canon EOS 70D) and action (GoPro Black Hero 6) cameras as well as of two of the current most used software in the field.
P. Militello (University of Catania) and A. M. Sammito (Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, Ragusa) directed excavations around a necropolis of at least 90 rock-cut tombs at Calicantone (RG) in southeastern Sicily, which until then had only partially been investigated. As well as providing new archaeological data about the corresponding village in terms of its area, the research team also discovered the remains of an isolated bi-apsidal hut dated to the late Sicilian EBA (XVIIth–XVIth century B.C.). The hut is presumed as a funerary building primarily intended for the preparation of corpses for burial. Its position, directly between the village and the necropolis, demonstrates its crucial role in the sacral landscape, while spatial distribution analyses indicate that other commemorative rituals were conducted in specific spaces in, and around, the actual tombs. The paper presents a reconstruction of the ancient cultural landscape highlighting the possible passageway that connected life in the village with death in the necropolis, through the interceding funerary hut, and the location of potential ritual areas in the necropolis. Digital spatial datasets and visualization tools (e.g. topographic maps, shaded Digital Elevation Model (DEM), visibility analyses, 3D virtual models, animations, etc.) proved to be fundamental in the reconstruction of funerary activities.
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