3D Archaeology at Çatalhöyük

Abstract

The project “3D-Digging at Çatalhöyük” began in 2010 thanks to collaboration between Stanford University (Archaeological Center) and the University of California Merced with the scope to record, document (with different digital technologies) and visualize in virtual reality all the phases of archaeological excavation. Phase I (2010 excavation season) of the project was mainly oriented to test different technologies during the excavation (time of flight and optical laser scanners). In phase II (2011 excavation season) the UC Merced team initiated the excavation of a Neolithic house (building 89), recording all the layers by time phase-shift scanners and computer vision techniques. The recording of the excavation process through the use of digital technologies gave the team the ability to generate 3D models of layers and micro-stratigraphies in stereovision during the excavation (using stereo projectors), so as to stimulate a new digital hermeneutics in archaeology. At the end of the fieldwork all the 3D models are accessible through a Teleimmersive system created by UC Merced and UC Berkeley.

Using modular 3D digital earth applications based on point clouds for the study of complex sites

“…Systems for the 3D study of archaeological areas have already been proposed in Forte et al (2012), Dell'Unto et al (2013) and von Schwerin et al (2013); however, they present one or more of the following limitations: they are limited to small areas, they cannot handle semantic information or they can only use oversimplified 3D models.…”

Terrestrial Laser Scanning in the Age of Sensing

“…Image-based 3D modeling workflows have long proved viable for the documentation of heritage (Pollefeys et al 2001, stratigraphic layers in archaeological excavation (Doneus and Neubauer 2005a;Doneus and Neubauer 2005b;Forte et al 2012), and artifacts (Kersten and Lindstaedt 2012).…”

“…Most importantly, archaeologists proved TLS viable to conduct digital documentation in single context archaeology where each stratigraphic unit's surface is recorded with geometrical precision and centimeter-level accuracy (Doneus and Neubauer 2005a). Nonetheless TLS could be time consuming, employing a laser scanner in the excavation proved viable and allowed archaeologists to considerably save time in the recording of the morphology and texture of stratigraphic surfaces, walls, and sections compared to traditional contact measurements tools, such as the measuring tape, or other non-contact measurement tools, such as the total station (Forte et al 2012). Seminal archaeological work also proved that the interpretation of the stratigraphy of an excavation can be enhanced by the integration of TLS data and photogrammetric data in a Geographic Information System (GIS) able to render the geometrical, topographical, and stratigraphical characteristics of a site (Doneus and Neubauer 2005b).…”

“…Terrestrial laser scanning underpins the digital recording process of Çatalhöyük East Mound at intrasite level. In 2011, terrestrial laser scanners, such as Trimble FX (phase comparison) and FARO Focus 3D S120 (phase comparison), proved successful in the documentation of stratigraphic layers of a Neolithic house, specifically B.89 (Forte et al 2012). To comply with UNESCO site management guidelines, Çatalhöyük requires thorough and systematical survey of the archaeological remains for conservation purpose.…”

“…The proposed examples underlined current trends related to TLS: laser-based metric survey techniques are increasingly integrated with other survey methods such as Airborne LiDAR, Image-based Modeling, UAS, and commodity sensors, with the goal to produce data fusion-based documentation able to provide data redundancy and reliability of the final deliverables. These new hybrid forms of data capture define multimodal workflows for heritage documentation that had already proved viable in relation to digital documentation of archaeological heritage and built environments (Forte et al 2012;Campana et al 2013) and digital data curation in museums and historic parks Lercari et al 2014) (Figure 10). The ultimate aim of this chapter was to ponder the significance of Terrestrial Laser Scanning and respond to the following question: does TLS still matter in the Age of Sensing?…”