High dynamic range imaging for archaeological recording

This paper notes the adoption of digital photography as a primary recording means within archaeology, and reviews some issues and problems that this presents. Particular attention is given to the problems of recording high-contrast scenes in archaeology and High Dynamic Range imaging using multiple exposures is suggested as a means of providing an archive of high-contrast scenes that can later be tone-mapped to provide a variety of visualisations. Exposure fusion is also considered, although it is noted that this has some disadvantages. Three case studies are then presented (1) a very high contrast photograph taken from within a rock-cut tomb at Cala Morell, Menorca (2) an archaeological test pitting exercise requiring rapid acquisition of photographic records in challenging circumstances and (3) legacy material consisting of three differently exposed colour positive (slide) photographs of the same scene. In each case, HDR methods are shown to significantly aid the generation of a high quality illustrative record photograph, and it is concluded that HDR imaging could serve an effective role in archaeological photographic recording, although there remain problems of archiving and distributing HDR radiance map data

Trying to break new ground in aerial archaeology

Aerial reconnaissance continues to be a vital tool for landscape-oriented archaeological research. Although a variety of remote sensing platforms operate within the earth’s atmosphere, the majority of aerial archaeological information is still derived from oblique photographs collected during observer-directed reconnaissance flights, a prospection approach which has dominated archaeological aerial survey for the past century. The resulting highly biased imagery is generally catalogued in sub-optimal (spatial) databases, if at all, after which a small selection of images is orthorectified and interpreted. For decades, this has been the standard approach. Although many innovations, including digital cameras, inertial units, photogrammetry and computer vision algorithms, geographic(al) information systems and computing power have emerged, their potential has not yet been fully exploited in order to re-invent and highly optimise this crucial branch of landscape archaeology. The authors argue that a fundamental change is needed to transform the way aerial archaeologists approach data acquisition and image processing. By addressing the very core concepts of geographically biased aerial archaeological photographs and proposing new imaging technologies, data handling methods and processing procedures, this paper gives a personal opinion on how the methodological components of aerial archaeology, and specifically aerial archaeological photography, should evolve during the next decade if developing a more reliable record of our past is to be our central aim. In this paper, a possible practical solution is illustrated by outlining a turnkey aerial prospection system for total coverage survey together with a semi-automated back-end pipeline that takes care of photograph correction and image enhancement as well as the management and interpretative mapping of the resulting data products. In this way, the proposed system addresses one of many bias issues in archaeological research: the bias we impart to the visual record as a result of selective coverage. While the total coverage approach outlined here may not altogether eliminate survey bias, it can vastly increase the amount of useful information captured during a single reconnaissance flight while mitigating the discriminating effects of observer-based, on-the-fly target selection. Furthermore, the information contained in this paper should make it clear that with current technology it is feasible to do so. This can radically alter the basis for aerial prospection and move landscape archaeology forward, beyond the inherently biased patterns that are currently created by airborne archaeological prospection

MAPPA. Methodologies applied to archaeological potential Predictivity

The fruitful cooperation over the years between the university teaching staff of Univerità di Pisa (Pisa University), the officials of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana (Superintendency for Archaeological Heritage of Tuscany), the officials of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici, Paesaggistici, Artistici ed Etnoantropologici per le Province di Pisa e Livorno (Superintendency for Architectural, Landscape and Ethno-anthropological Heritage for the Provinces of Pisa and Livorno), and the Comune di Pisa (Municipality of Pisa) has favoured a great deal of research on issues regarding archaeological heritage and the reconstruction of the environmental and landscape context in which Pisa has evolved throughout the centuries of its history. The desire to merge this remarkable know-how into an organic framework and, above all, to make it easily accessible, not only to the scientific community and professional categories involved, but to everyone, together with the wish to provide Pisa with a Map of archaeological potential (the research, protection and urban planning tool capable of converging the heritage protection needs of the remains of the past with the development requirements of the future) led to the development of the MAPPA project – Methodologies applied to archaeological potential predictivity - funded by Regione Toscana in 2010. The two-year project started on 1 July 2011 and will end on 30 June 2013. The first year of research was dedicated to achieving the first objective, that is, to retrieving the results of archaeological investigations from the archives of Superintendencies and University and from the pages of scientific publications, and to making them easily accessible; these results have often never been published or have often been published incompletely and very slowly. For this reason, a webGIS (“MappaGIS” that may freely accessed at http://mappaproject.arch.unipi.it/?page_id=452) was created and will be followed by a MOD (Mappa Open Data archaeological archive), the first Italian archive of open archaeological data, in line with European directives regarding access to Public Administration data and recently implemented by the Italian government also (the beta version of the archive can be viewed at http://mappaproject.arch.unipi.it/?page_id=454). Details are given in this first volume about the operational decisions that led to the creation of the webGIS: the software used, the system architecture, the organisation of information and its structuring into various information layers. But not only. The creation of the webGIS also gave us the opportunity to focus on a series of considerations alongside the work carried out by the MAPPA Laboratory researchers. We took the decision to publish these considerations with a view to promoting debate within the scientific community and, more in general, within the professional categories involved (e.g. public administrators, university researchers, archaeology professionals). This allowed us to overcome the critical aspects that emerged, such as the need to update the archaeological excavation documentation and data archiving systems in order to adjust them to the new standards provided by IT development; most of all, the need for greater and more rapid spreading of information, without which research cannot truly progress. Indeed, it is by comparing and connecting new data in every possible and, at times, unexpected way that research can truly thrive

A Digital Registry for Archaeological Find Spots and Excavation Documentation in IANUS

Grey literature (site notebooks, reports etc.) and research data in archaeology are invaluable sources of information currently lacking a central reference registry in Germany. This paper discusses requirements and the underlying data model of a registry to be developed for find spots and archaeological excavation data within the IANUS project at the German Archaeological Institute. This registry is to collect information on archaeological investigations data for a finding aid service. The focus for this registry will be based on the collection of metadata about primary data and grey literature, not on secondary data or on publications. Starting with the acquisition of basic metadata needs drawn from the IANUS mission and project charter. A review of already existing projects and initiatives in this field (EDNA, tDAR, ADS, Open Context) provides more details about which information should be captured during a registration of research data for a long term digital preservation archive. Finally recommendations for the data model of this registry are drawn from the evaluation of existing generic and archaeology-specific metadata standards (Dublin Core, EDM, LIDO, ADeX, CARARE)

Ground-penetrating radar survey at Falerii Novi : a new approach to the study of Roman cities

Our understanding of Roman urbanism relies on evidence from a few extensively investigated sites, such as Pompeii and Ostia, which are unrepresentative of the full variety of Roman towns. This article presents the results of the first high-resolution GPR survey of a complete Roman town-Falerii Novi, in Lazio, Italy. The authors review the methods deployed and provide an overview of the results, including discussion of a case-study area within the town. They demonstrate how this type of survey has the potential to revolutionise archaeological studies of urban sites, while also challenging current methods of analysing and publishing large-scale GPR datasets