Abstract
Abstract. The methodology proposed in this paper in based on an integrated approach for creating a 3D digital reconstruction of an archaeological site, using extensively the 3D documentation of the site in its current state, followed by an iterative interaction between archaeologists and digital modelers, leading to a progressive refinement of the reconstructive hypotheses. The starting point of the method is the reality-based model, which, together with ancient drawings and documents, is used for generating the first reconstructive step. Such rough approximation of a possible architectural structure can be annotated through archaeological considerations that has to be confronted with geometrical constraints, producing a reduction of the reconstructive hypotheses to a limited set, each one to be archaeologically evaluated. This refinement loop on the reconstructive choices is iterated until the result become convincing by both points of view, integrating in the best way all the available sources. The proposed method has been verified on the ruins of five temples in the My Son site, a wide archaeological area located in central Vietnam. The integration of 3D surveyed data and historical documentation has allowed to support a digital reconstruction of not existing architectures, developing their three-dimensional digital models step by step, from rough shapes to highly sophisticate virtual prototypes.
Highlights
Reconstructing ancient buildings and cities from their remains has been one of the main applications of computer graphics in Archaeology for its suggestive potential
The logical path leading from an archaeological site to a reasonable reconstructive hypothesis is full of pitfalls that can lead to multiple solutions, even very different from each other due to multiple levels of interpretation of the historical sources that can be used for such purpose
A possible weakness in the reconstruction process, observed in past projects, is represented by the possible lack of scientific reliability on the reconstructed model due to the actual disjunction between the modelers producing the final computer graphics output, the archeologist owning the knowledge for creating the appropriate reconstructive hypotheses, and the actual 3D data coming from the detailed survey
Summary
Reconstructing ancient buildings and cities from their remains has been one of the main applications of computer graphics in Archaeology for its suggestive potential. Assuming that it is still available in some form (modified or ruined), a detailed 3D acquisition of the shape and colors of the artifact, leading to its high resolution reality-based digital model The experts for this jobs are typically engineers and technical staff, working with laser scanners, photogrammetry or computer vision and processing 3D data up to a textured polygonal model or at least a. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XL-5/W1, 2013 3D-ARCH 2013 - 3D Virtual Reconstruction and Visualization of Complex Architectures, 25 – 26 February 2013, Trento, Italy colored cloud of 3D points coherent with the real scenario; collecting as much documentation on the artifact as possible, coming from archeological considerations, written historical references, ancient topography, iconographic sources, legends, local uses, religious behaviors and other elements related to the present and past context arrangements. Most of them were 3D digitised within this project, as the architectural shape of the five buildings described above
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