Abstract
Abstract. The paper illustrates the project of an interdisciplinary team composed of archaeologists and researchers of the Scuola Normale Superiore and the University of Pisa. The synergy between these Centres has recently allowed for a more articulated 3D simulation of the agora of Segesta. Here, the archaeological excavations have brought to light the remains of a huge public building (stoa) of the Late-Hellenistic Period. Computer graphics and image-based modeling have been used to monitor, document and record the different phases of the excavation activity (layers, findings, wall structures) and to create a 3D model of the whole site. In order to increase as much as possible the level of interaction, all the models can be managed by an application specially designed for an immersive virtual environment (CAVE-like system). By using hands tracking sensor (Leap) in a non-standard way, the application allows for a completely hand-free interaction with the simulation of the agora of Segesta and the different phases of the fieldwork activities. More specifically, the operator can use simple hand gestures to activate a natural interface, scroll and visualize the perfectly overlapped models of the archaeological layers, pop up the models of single meaningful objects discovered during the excavation, and obtain all the relative metadata (stored in a dedicated server) which are visualizable on external devices (e.g. tablets or monitors) without further wearable devices. All these functions are contextualized within the whole simulation of the agora, so that it is possible to verify old interpretations and enhance new ones in real-time, simulating within the CAVE the whole archaeological investigation, going over the different phases of the excavation in a more rapid way, getting information which could have been ignored during the fieldwork, and verifying, even ex-post, issues not correctly documented during the fieldwork. The opportunity to physically interact with the 3D model of the agora increases drastically the level of affordance between operator and 3D simulation, and to verify with a completely new approach, issues which can be hardly investigated by using traditional 2D documentation.
Highlights
Since 2001 the archaeological investigations in the agora of Segesta, in northwestern Sicily, have brought to light a large part of the buildings which bordered the ancient public square (Ampolo, Parra 2012)
The 3D models of the agora were created with computer graphics and aerial and terrestrial close range photogrammetry techniques, using software like AutoCAD, 3ds Max, Agisoft PhotoScan and Geomagic (Taccola 2012, Olivito, Taccola forthcoming)
The application aims at improving the level of interaction between users and virtual environment, thanks to the possibility to visualize the perfectly overlapped and aligned digital models of the stratigraphic sequence realized during the fieldwork activity, to scroll between them within the virtual environment, and to query and interrogate the relative metadata only with hand-gestures
Summary
Since 2001 the archaeological investigations in the agora of Segesta, in northwestern Sicily, have brought to light a large part of the buildings which bordered the ancient public square (Ampolo, Parra 2012). The most interesting acquisitions of planimetric, architectural, and monumental nature are related to a large stoa with two projecting wings, which was built in the Late-Hellenistic period (end of the 2nd century BCE). The accurate architectural study of the stoa (Abate, Cannistraci 2012) led to the formulation of a hypothetical reconstruction of the vertical development of the building. Within this articulated monumental complex, during the very last years it has been possible to use new digital techniques of documentation, which have allowed for a significant improvement in the data acquisition phase, in the graphic documentation, and in the following elaboration processes
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