3D integrated methodologies for the documentation and the virtual reconstruction of an archaeological site

Highly accurate documentation and 3D reconstructions are fundamental for analyses and further interpretations in archaeology. In the last years the integrated digital survey (ground-based survey methods and UAV photogrammetry) has confirmed its main role in the documentation and comprehension of excavation contexts, thanks to instrumental and methodological development concerning the on site data acquisition. The specific aim of the project, reported in this paper and realized by the Laboratory of Photogrammetry of the IUAV University of Venice, is to check different acquisition systems and their effectiveness test, considering each methodology individually or integrated. This research focuses on the awareness that the integration of different survey’s methodologies can as a matter of fact increase the representative efficacy of the final representations; these are based on a wider and verified set of georeferenced metric data. Particularly the methods’ integration allows reducing or neutralizing issues related to composite and complex objects’ survey, since the most appropriate tools and techniques can be chosen considering the characteristics of each part of an archaeological site (i.e. urban structures, architectural monuments, small findings). This paper describes the experience in several sites of the municipality of Sepino (Molise, Italy), where the 3d digital acquisition of cities and structure of monuments, sometimes hard to reach, was realized using active and passive techniques (rage-based and image based methods). This acquisition was planned in order to obtain not only the basic support for interpretation analysis, but also to achieve models of the actual state of conservation of the site on which some reconstructive hypotheses can be based on. Laser scanning data were merged with Structure from Motion techniques’ clouds into the same reference system, given by a topographical and GPS survey. These 3d models are not only the final results of the metric survey, but also the starting point for the whole reconstruction of the city and its urban context, from the research point of view. This reconstruction process will concern even some areas that have not yet been excavated, where the application of procedural modelling can offer an important support to the reconstructive hypothesis.