From airborne detection to 2D mapping, 3D modelling and the virtual reconstruction of archaeological heritage revealed by cropmarks. A Central European project

0563197 - ARÚ 2023 CZ eng A - Abstract
Gojda, Martin - Unger, Jiří
From airborne detection to 2D mapping, 3D modelling and the virtual reconstruction of archaeological heritage revealed by cropmarks. A Central European project.
The Ninth World Archaeological Congress WAC-9 Abstract Book. Prague: GUARANT International spol. s r.o., 2022 - (Turek, J.). s. 340. ISBN 978-80-908114-0-9.
[World Archaeological Congress /9./. 03.07.2022-08.07.2022, Prague]
Institutional support: RVO:67985912
Keywords : aerial photographs * archaeological remote sensing * cropmarks * photogrammetry * 3D reconstruction models
OECD category: Archaeology
https://guarant.eu/wac-9/files/wac-9-abstract-book.pdf

The process of creating archaeological maps through the gradual transformation of the archaeological content of interpreted aerial images into vector layers in the GIS environment and the application of modern methods of digital processing of visual data into three-dimensional reconstruction models of buried components of archaeological heritage revealed by cropmarks can be designated as the most important parts of the ongoing processing of aerial photographs collected in the archive of the Prague-based Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences in connection with long-term (1992–2017) aerial survey. Representative examples are gradually selected from several hundred archaeological sites – prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval rural settlements, the ditches of enclosed settlements, fortifications, cult areas, burial grounds, field fortifications, roads, etc., hidden beneath the earth's surface and seasonally visible through ‘vegetation/crop marks’ in order to document the potential of such marks to get an idea of the layout of detected sites – individual features as well as complex settlement areas. The aim of this paper is to show that under suitable conditions aerial photographs have the potential to testify to the form of buried relics of human settlement activities in such detail that virtual 3D models can be used to relatively reliably reconstruct their former appearance and improve knowledge of the specific settlement components of past landscapes. A ‘flight’ over a virtual prehistoric or medieval landscape in the form of animated videoclips can then present in an attractive way, especially to the general public, the characteristic features of the past landscape of a specific region, while simultaneously documenting how this can be achieved without a destructive impact on archaeological contexts, i.e. a noninvasive path to the analysis, interpretation and subsequent reconstruction 3D modelling of data from remote sensing. In other words, the creation of 3D computer visualisation, which is able to quickly assimilate a large amount of information, can be crucial for understanding the issue, specifically the interpretability, of vegetation marks for both the lay public and the professional community.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0335240