Abstract
The dolmen of Guadalperal (Spain) became well known in 2019 when the waters of the reservoir in which it had long been submerged became so depleted as to leave it above water and highly visible. This gave rise to great media and social polemic. In this study, we deal with the ‘recovery’ of the dolmen using digital techniques, including a strategy of geometrical documentation of long, medium and short-range through the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) and photogrammetry. The result is a set of products that trace the changes that have taken place in the monument since its excavation in 1925, the identification of conditions affecting it and the acquisition of new information on the decorated supports that formed part of the megalithic architecture. To do so, the time during which it was accessible (i.e., not underwater) was used to acquire the only heritage information currently available on the monument. This new information offers a complete assessment of a megalithic monument using a protocol that is exportable to other sites submerged in lakes or reservoirs.
Highlights
Megalithic heritage can be seen as global imagery made up of symbols [1] chronological developments and similar landscape notions across Western Europe [2, 3]
By putting together the photogrammetry and the shortrange scanner a high-resolution 3D model was generated of those parts of the structure requiring greater detail
Terrestrial laser scanner For the full documentation of the dolmen, 36 independent takes were needed. These were performed using two scanners simultaneously over 4 h Regarding the estimation of errors in the joining of the point clouds, the Root mean squared error (RMSE) was estimated at 4.76 mm, with an average error of 4.4 mm and considering a total of 107 points
Summary
Megalithic heritage can be seen as global imagery made up of symbols [1] chronological developments and similar landscape notions across Western Europe [2, 3]. It has the unquestionable capacity to determine the meaning of the landscape beyond its prehistoric uses to produce a shared perception [4]. Under this premise, the protection of and research into megalithic sites must relate to the cultural peculiarities of each region [5,6,7,8,9,10]. The archaeological site was already well known to professionals in the field, the media presented it as a discovery and an opportunity to promote cultural tourism in the region. The national and international media compared it with Stonehenge promoting a vivid social debate on the convenience of relocating the sepulchre to a place somewhere out of the reservoir
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
