To use or not to use: 3D documentation in fieldwork and in the lab

Excavating an archaeological site involves many decisions and trade-offs to be made. This is not only due to the limited resources on site but also has methodological roots. As excavations are destructive, decisions on the quantity and on which details documentation should focus must be taken. For documentation, a wide range of tools are available. One such tool is 3D documentation. It brings with it many benefits like the possibility to move in a 3D space through the excavation, the generating of ‘virtual’ profiles, or high precision DEM’s to name a few. 3D documentation of finds offers the possibility of fast unwrapping of complex features, fast drawings from different angles, or printing as a replica for different purposes. However, when compared to conventional methods, more problematic issues arise as well. 3D models must be calculated before the excavation can proceed. The calculation either needs time or powerful hardware. The method also results in a vast amount of data, as, in contrast to a drawing, most details are recorded. The question here is how to balance and evaluate these pros and cons. With this session, we want to ask: How and on which basis do you decide when choosing the documentation method? How do you evaluate the cost and time benefit of 3D documentation, also taking into account consequential costs such as data storage and curation over long periods of time? Is the time saved in the field doubled in the office? How much of the recorded data is used in the evaluation? We aim to bring together archeologists, technicians, and restaurateurs concerned with the above stated questions, whether working in the field or the lab, or as decision-makers in managing positions. We highly encourage members of commercial archaeological enterprises and of heritage offices to bring in their points of view

Integrating all Dimensions: 3D-Applications from Excavation to Research to Dissemination

3D-technologies are increasingly shaping the way archaeologists work and think. The fact that 3D recording techniques are becoming part of the standard toolkit in archaeological fieldwork opens up enormous opportunities for research and public outreach. As archaeological excavations are seen to be destructive, conventional documentation techniques have been shaped over decades if not centuries to mitigate as much information loss as possible. This includes the development of fitting tools and workflows as well as best practices in archaeological data collection, long-term archiving, research and dissemination. As new tools, 3D-Technologies need to be implemented into these existing best practices and workflows. In order to take full advantage of the new possibilities, we consider an integrated approach from the beginning of a project to be essential. This enables the successful implementation of 3D-technologies in all stages: it is not only important during fieldwork, but also later during research or public outreach. There, for instance, challenges concerning interoperability or quality may arise and have to be coped with. Also, the irreversibility of archaeological excavations has to be met with the functioning of long-term archiving of mostly large and complex datasets. Despite the increasing implementation of 3D-technologies in everyday archaeological practice, the overall experience of knowing what decisions to make and how they will affect the later possibilities and limitations is still developing. Nevertheless, there are ever more successful projects showing how 3D-techniques can be fully integrated into archaeological practice. This session aims to bring these examples of integrated research projects to a broader archaeological audience. As these potent documentation techniques have found their way into everyday practice, a broad dissemination and discussion of their possibilities and arising challenges is urgently needed

A new Approach for Structure from Motion Underwater Pile-Field Documentation

For a pilot study carried out by the University of Bern together with local partners in Summer 2018 at the pile-dwelling site Bay of Bones (Rep. of Macedonia), a new workflow for underwater pile-field documentation was developed. The site lies in shallow water of 3–5 meters depth and the most obvious constructive remains of the prehistoric settlement are thousands of wooden piles. The piles, mainly of oak and juniper, are excellently preserved in the lake sediments. The aim of the project was to document and sample 40 m2 surface area of the pile-field and the dendrochronological analysis of the samples. Dendrochronological sampling requires cutting the top-ends of the piles and thus changes the preserved situation. Therefore beforehand documentation must ensure the localization of each pile on a map. This calls for a method that ensures a) that every pile is distinctly labeled and b) the location of each pile is accurately captured. While on land, this can easily be achieved, underwater working conditions complicate common procedures. E.g. by measuring with a folding ruler from a local grid, there is later no way to evaluate measuring mistakes or the internal error of the local grid. In addition, for unpracticed divers measuring by hand underwater is not only time-consuming but also tends a lot more to erroneous results than on land. The goal was therefore to find a time-saving, accurate and easy to carry out way to locate the positions of several hundred piles in shallow water. The best solution for us to achieve these goals was a new standardized and reproducible workflow with Structure from Motion (SfM). The applied approach for underwater SfM-documentation includes on-site workflow and post-processing. The on-site workflow covers all steps from the preparation of the archaeological structures to the photographic data acquisition, the calculation of a preliminary 3D-model and its on-site verification. The crucial step was to ensure the suitability for modeling of the data before the situation underwater was irreversibly changed through sampling. Post-processing was carried out in Adobe Photoshop, Agisoft PhotoScan and QGIS where the data was optimized in quality and standardized from digital image processing to the construction of a georeferenced orthomosaic. Applying these results, we can later visualize patterns in the spatial distribution of the piles concerning e.g. their age, their size or their wood species. This will lead to answers regarding architecture, internal chronology, and in-site settlement dynamics. With this newly standardized two-step-workflow for underwater structure documentation, we are able to asses and compare the quality of each orthomosaic in a reproducible way. The presented method is highly promising for underwater-documentation of prehistoric pile-fields, yielding accurate digital plans in an efficient and cost-saving way.</p

Auswirkungen einer 12-wöchigen strukturierten Sportintervention auf die Schlafqualität, depressive Symptome und die Ängstlichkeit bei Gutachtenexploranden im Abklärungsprozess hinsichtlich psychisch bedingter Invalidität

Hintergrund: In den letzten Jahren stiegen die Fallzahlen und Kosten der IV-Berentungen aus psychischen Gründen europaweit drastisch an. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Masterarbeit ist die Untersuchung der Wirksamkeit einer 12-wöchigen strukturierten Sportintervention auf die Parameter Schlaf, depressive Symptome und Symptome der Ängstlichkeit bei Patienten im Abklärungsprozess hinsichtlich psychisch bedingter Invalidität. Diverse Studien gehen von einem positiven Zusammenhang zwischen körperlicher Aktivität und Schlaf aus. Weiter haben viele Studien zum Thema Körperliche Aktivität und Depression wirksame Erkenntnisse gezeigt. Im Bereich körperliche Aktivität und Angststörungen stehen bis anhin wenige aussagekräftige Daten zur Verfügung. Noch keine randomisierten kontrollierten Interventionsstudien wurden mit IV-Antragsstellern durchgeführt. Methodik: Für die vorliegende PhysAktIV-Studie wurden zwölf Patienten randomisiert, (sieben Interventions-, fünf Kontrollgruppe). Das Durchschnittsalter betrug 45 Jahre (M = 44.92). Die Interventionsgruppe absolvierte zweimal wöchentlich ein 12-wöchiges körperlich aktives Programm, während die Kontrollgruppe bewegungsarme Freizeitaktivitäten durchführte. Die PhysAktIV-Studie verwendete Fragebögen und Fitnesstests, welche die Zielparameter zu vier Messzeitpunkten (Baseline, 4-Wochen, 8-Wochen und Post) erhoben. Die Schlafqualität wurde mit der deutschen Version des Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) erfasst. Die Erfassung der Variablen Angst und Depression erfolgte mit der deutschen Version der Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS –D). Resultate: Insgesamt beendeten fünf Patienten die PhysAktIV-Studie (drei Interventions-, zwei Kontrollgruppe). Es liegen keine signifikanten Zusammenhänge zwischen den Werten des Fitnesstests und den Werten des ISI und HADS-D vor, mittlere Korrelationen zeigen jedoch Tendenzen der Zusammenhänge auf. Es liegt weder eine Verbesserung der Schlafqualität noch der objektiv erfassten Werte des Fitnesstests der Patienten der Interventionsgruppe nach der 12-wöchigen Intervention vor. Es gibt Tendenzen zur Verringerung der Symptome der Ängstlichkeit. Es kann jedoch eine Verbesserung der Interventions- gegenüber der Kontrollgruppe bezüglich der depressiven Symptome verzeichnet werden. Schlussfolgerung: Es liegen positive Auswirkungen der 12-wöchigen strukturierten Sportintervention auf die Linderung der depressiven Symptome vor und vielversprechende Resultate konnten bezüglich der Reduktion der Ängstlichkeit gewonnen werden. Keine positiven Auswirkungen hatte die 12-wöchige strukturierte Sportintervention auf die Schlafqualität und die objektiv erfassten Werte des Fitnesstests. Aufgrund der extrem kleinen Probandenzahl ist die Interpretation der Resultate schwierig und statistisch heikel. Schlüsselwörter: körperliche Aktivität, Schlaf, Depression, Angst, Interventio

Diving into Research. A Talk about the NEENAWA Scientific Diving Course and a resulting new Project at Lake Ohrid.

A central part of the Institutional Partnership (SCOPES) “Network in Eastern European Neolithic and Wetland Archaeology” (NEENAWA, 2015–2018) was a European Scientific Diver (ESD) course, realized in summer 2017. Together with participants from Russia, the Ukraine and the FY Republic of Macedonia we, four Bernese students, successfully absolved the examination which was held under the conditions of the German commission for Scientific Diving (KFT). The first part of this presentation will show what it means to be trained as a scientific diver under European law, to give an idea of what we did during our course and what the advantages of an education within the framework of the European Scientific Diving Panel are. The course has been conducted at the Bay of Bones, a Bronze Age pile dwelling settlement on the shore of Lake Ohrid, FY Republic of Macedonia. The second part gives an outlook on the new prospects that the ESD course opened for us. With colleagues we met during this course and NEENAWA project, we have started to plan new research activities. The aim was to apply scientific diving as a method to bring forward dendrochronology where it has not been used so far. We chose the Bay of Bones at Lake Ohrid as research site. During the ESD-course a small survey was carried out which already raised several questions we want to explore further. In about 5 m depth lie well-preserved cultural layers with thousands of piles and artifacts. Until now the chronology of this site is mainly based on ceramic typology. The goal of the project is to change this by applying combined dendrochronology and radiocarbon dating. As a method, photogrammetry together with a combination of a standard grid on the lake floor and DGPS will be used. This allows systematic, fast documentation resulting in a georeferenced map of the sampled piles

The 3 Dimensions of Digitalized Archaeology. Data Management, Scientific benefit and Risks od Data Storage in Archaeological image-based 3D-Documentation

Using just a smartphone and the right software, we can reproduce a 3-dimensional model of an excavation site in a highly-detailed resolution. Up to date, we are able to generate 3D-models of objects in different scales, of excavations on land and underwater, buildings, ruins or even whole landscapes. Today the creation of 3D-data is a widely accepted and an established procedure in Archaeology without being standardized yet. While drawing with a pencil is becoming an obsolete technique, we instead face new challenges of creating reproducible workflows, how fully exploit and how to store digital data: After data-production, the question rises what scientific benefit can the data provide for research? What yet unsolved questions can be addressed with the analysis of 3D-data? In short: Does the acquisition of 3D-data have an additional scientific value? Working with these techniques, we face an abundant amount of data not only to be analyzed but also to be stored. Do we need to archive all the raw data for future analyses or could we reduce the amount of bytes to store? How can a large quantity of data be handled for easy exchange between different researchers and different softwaresolutions? And how do we prevent information loss for future generations? In this session, we invite researchers working with 3D-scanning techniques to tackle these pressing questions and to share Open Source solutions for data sharing, further analysis and storage. The aim of the session is to discuss and to evaluate how to manage 3D-data in a meaningful way for scientific purposes and to find new ways to address the risks and challenges posed by digitalization. In short: Where are we, where are we going, and how do we want to design the handling of 3D-data in Archaeology

Bildbasierte 3D-Dokumentation. Wie wird sie genutzt? Eine Umfrage zum Einsatz von 3D Technologien in der Archäologie

Zwischen Januar und März 2020 wurde durch die «EAA Community for 3D-Technologies in Archaeology» eine international ausgerichtete Umfrage zur Nutzung von bildbasierten 3D-Technologien durchgeführt. Das Ziel war, einen breiten Einblick in die Anwendung von bildbasierten 3D-Technologien in der Praxis zu erhalten. Die Auswertung der Befragung erlaubt es, den Stellenwert der Methoden und die wichtigsten Anwendungsziele der Anwender*innen herauszuarbeiten. Zudem gibt sie Einblick in die verwendete Software und Dateiformate sowie in die Umsetzung der Archivierung. Damit lassen sich die wesentlichen Herausforderungen für die weitere Entwicklung und fortschreitende Implementation von 3DTechnologien in die Praxis erkennen

Survey on the current use and application of 3D-technology for archaeological and cultural heritage purposes

Digital archaeology and image-based 3D-documentation have become widespread in archaeological everyday practice. Despite its relevance, a common ground for storing and archiving the massive datasets produced by 3D-documentation is still missing. Aims, applications and strategies are diverse, as are software solutions. To get an insight into the current use and the application of image-based 3Ddocumentation a survey among practitioners was conducted. The survey was spread through brad channels and conducted online. The aim of the survey was to address the following main-questions: - How is image-based 3D-technology used and applied? - What solutions and practices are in use concerning the archiving of 3D-data? - What are the needs for a sustainable and reliable application of 3D-technology? The survey reached more than 70 contributions from a range of different countries from practitioners working with image-based 3D-technology. Preliminary results seem to confirm a broad range of different applications, different programs and different data management approaches

Image-Based 3D-Documentation: Next level of Data Storage in Digital Archaeology

Digital Archaeology and Image-Based 3D-Documentation have become widespread in archaeological everyday practice. Despite its relevance, a common ground for storing and archiving the massive datasets produced by 3D-Documentation is still missing: What needs to be archived? Who needs access to data? What are current solutions? What are long-term challenges? These pressing questions arose during the EAA annual meeting 2019 in Bern and need urgently to be discussed in more detail. This round table will tackle these challenges in an interdisciplinary discussion with participants not only from the archaeological field, but also from digital archives and other institutions dealing with long-term data storage. The aim is to clarify the following points: - the needs for the storage of 3D-related data like reproducibility and compatibility - the challenges of archiving (data amount, data format, access, digital long-term storage) - current available solutions focusing on 3D-data Part of the discussion will draw from a survey on the needs and current solutions in European archaeology. The survey will be conducted in the first half of the year 2020. The planned outcome of this interdisciplinary round table is a joint publication on these 3 topics. We invite researchers of all disciplines that are working with Imaged-Based 3D-Documentation, who have encountered one of these topics and are willing to contribute their experience and knowledge to take 3D-Documentation to the next level

Generationenweg - Archäologie in Bümpliz

Broschüre zur Ausstellung anlässlich des Stadtfests Bern im August 2016. Kooperation zwischen Archäologischen Dienst des Kantons Bern und Universität Bern. Beläuchtet werden die keltischen Gräber, die römische Villa, deren Bad, die frühmittelalterlichen Gräber, das Grabmonument aus dem 7. Jh. und die Mauritiuskirche, sowie das Alte und Neue Schloss Bümpliz. Ein Versuch die Geschichte von 100 Generationen in über 2200 Jahren zu zeichnen