The paper addresses the theme of photomodelling techniques supporting archaeological survey and of the role played by the contemporary archaeologist dealing with computing and information technology. In particular, photomodelling, being a simple and economical technique, for years has gained ground in the archaeological survey as an efficient instrument to respond to the needs for documentation, study, and communication, which are inherent to digitization. Likewise, in the enhancement of perceptive aspects and in computation automatisms, which are at the basis of the models’ genesis, some pitfalls can be hidden that may lead to underestimate the centrality of interpretation. The critical analysis proposed aims at underlying the contribution of digital techniques, by analysing their reliability and their possible application to the traditional design. The paper compares some examples of archaeological data survey conducted in the Umbria region, in the last fifty years, from the point of view of experts involved in representation studies, and tries to capture the peculiarities that are still valid in the current transformation of graphic representation tools
