Underwater programmetry for archaeology and marine biology: 40 years of experience in Marseille, France

Abstract

Since 1973 archeology and computer science have developed close ties in Marseille. Two departments (computer science and archaeology) from the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Marseille started working together and laid the cornerstone of the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA) community. Marseille also has the advantage of being located in a very interesting place on the Mediterranean Sea and being the home to several famous laboratories, such as the French Cultural Heritage Department (DRASSM) or private companies like COMEX. In 1980 they performed a series of explorations of a deep-sea wreck with the help of COMEX and DRASSM. More recently, ten years ago, the Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille (COM) started using underwater photogrammetry to survey and monitor red coral populations in situ. In this paper we present new advances in underwater photogrammetry for archaeology and marine biology based on forty years of experience. The survey described in this article does not only discuss the acquisition of 3D points in difficult conditions but also linking archaeological knowledge to the surveyed geometry. This approach needed to combine automatic data processing and offered the opportunity to experts, archaeologists or biologists, to insert knowledge in the process. After an introduction to the history of computer science and archaeology, we will present related work in underwater archaeology and marine biology. The last section is dedicated to two recent experiments in Marseille, based on recent developments in automatic photogrammetry: a World War II plane wreck, surveyed using both acoustic and optical sensors, and a survey used to monitor red coral growth over several years.