4 research outputs found
Innovation Technologies and Applications for Coastal Archaeological sites
Innovation Technologies and Applications for Coastal Archaeological sites project (ITACA) aims to develop and test a management
system for underwater archaeological sites in coastal regions. The discovering and monitoring service will use innovative satellite
remote sensing techniques combined with image processing algorithms. The project will develop a set of applications integrated in a
system pursuing the following objectives:
– Search and location of ancient ship wrecks;
– Monitoring of ship wrecks, ruins and historical artefacts that are now submerged;
– Integration of resulting search and monitoring data with on-site data into a management tool for underwater sites;
– Demonstration of the system’s suitability for a service.
High resolution synthetic aperture radar (TerraSAR-X, Cosmo-SkyMed) and multispectral satellite data (WorldView) will be
combined to derive the relative bathymetry of the bottom of the sea up to the depth of 50 meters. The resulting data fusion will be
processed using shape detection algorithms specific for archaeological items. The new algorithms, the physical modelling and the
computational capabilities will be integrated into the Web-GIS, together with data recorded from surface (2D and 3D modelling) and
from underwater surveys. Additional specific archaeological layers will be included into the WebGIS to facilitate the object
identification through shape detection techniques and mapping. The system will be verified and validated through an extensive onground
(sea) campaign carried out with both cutting edge technologies (side-scan sonar, multi beam echo sounder) and traditional
means (professional scuba divers) in two test sites in Italy and Greece.
The project is leaded by Planetek Hellas E.P.E. and include ALMA Sistemi sas for the “shape detection” and dissemination tasks,
DHI-GRAS and Kell Srl for multispectral and SAR bathymetry. The complete consortium is composed by eleven partners and the
project Kick-Off has been held in January 2014. The present contribution aims to present the project research achievements and
finding at the mid-term review
SURVEYING THE UNDERWATER ARCAHEOLOGICAL SITE OF CAPE GLAROS AT PAGASETIKOS GULF
The Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology (H.I.M.A.)1 has been conducting an underwater archaeological research in the west coast
of southern Pagasetikos Gulf, since 2000. Every year the underwater research focuses on specific archaeological targets that have been
recovered during previous field campaigns. The current publication elaborates on the comprehensive documentation of the underwater
archaeological site at Cape Glaros, during the 2015 field season, under the direction of the archaeologist Elias Spondylis. The 2015
research campaign was conducted within the framework of the ITACA- Innovation Technologies and Applications
for Coastal Archaeological sites European Project (FP7/2007-2013, GA No 606805), at two archaeological sites, namely the Cape
Glaros and Metohi. It was among the most important challenges of the project to successfully produce the detailed and accurate 3D
mapping of the Cape Glaros site that covers an extended area. Four large concentrations of pottery finds and numerous anchors of
different typology have been recorded, that can be dated from the late Hellenistic to the Byzantine periods. This challenge was tackled
through the simultaneous implementation of three recording methods; photogrammetry, geodesy and conventional architectural
mapping. The workflow of the documentation process, including data acquisition, processing and graphic visualization, along with the
derived results are presented below.
1The Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology (H.I.M.A.) is a private, non-profit organization, founded in 1973, which undertakes maritime
archaeological research under the supervision or in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture. It has over 100 members, with diverse academic
credentials, all of whom work, mainly, on a voluntary basis. 3D recording of underwater archaeological sites has been applied to numerous projects
that have been carried out by the multidisciplinary team of H.I.M.A. in locations of utmost archaeological importance and interest, such as Modi island
(Poros) and numerous wreck sites in Pagasetikos and South Euboean (Diamanti, Vlachaki, 2015) Gulfs and others