Geomatics techniques and ground penetration radar for archaeological documentation of Al-Salt castle in Jordan

Abstract

The protection and proper management of archaeological heritage are essential for studying and interpretation of present and future generations. The protection of archaeological heritage must be based upon effective collaboration between professionals from many disciplines. In this study, knowledge from different sources and research areas like photogrammetric science, Ground penetrating Radar (GPR) and geographic information system (GIS) has been integrated and established for documentations of one of the important archaeological sites (Al-Salt Castle, Jordan) where historic-strategic importance refers to the ages of the Asian kings and ottomans sultans. Three dimensional (3D) modeling is the representation of features, shapes and texture. The 3D coordinates resulting from photogrammetric adjustment procedures were used to create a 3D model of the study area. Textures added to the surfaces of 3D models give a real world appearance to displayed model. Geophysical methods such as GPR were used to explore the buried objects as well as underlying structure of the study area. Finally, a GIS system that includes boundary maps, precise point location of archaeological sites, transportation layer, digital elevation model, ortho-images and geology of the area is stored in a geospatial database system. The system is designed to allow easy and flexible updating of the database. For realistic representation of the study area, a three-dimensional GIS was prepared for the Al-Salt castle in Jordan, where efficient generation, management and visualization of such special data were established.