3D and 4D Cartography of Archaeological Stratigraphy: A case study at the Western Forum in Ostia Antica

Description

This monograph focuses on one of the most interesting sections of the Main Forum of Ostia Antica, the ancient commercial port of Rome, during the 2nd-6th centuries AD. With a detailed 3D reconstruction of all collected information, it is possible to gain detailed insights into the development and destruction of the city centre during the transition from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. The applied 3D volume map in this study makes this possible by combining 2D, 2.5D and 3D solid objects inside a real geo-space. It completes the 3D space, generally filled with hollow objects, with content. With this work, Undine Lieberwirth gives archaeologists a free and open ready-to-use tool. The resulting space-time model of archaeological stratigraphy, geophysics and pedology opens new perspectives on 3D documentation and 3D analysis of archaeological and archaeology-related data. Her intention is not only to preserve archaeological excavation data in the best way possible but also to prepare them for future 3D and 4D analysis. The digital 3D cartography offers the perfect framework for this. To represent these 3D models appropriately, the usual 2D images in this monograph are replaced with 8 videos. Front cover Title Page Copyright Page Of Related Interest Acknowledgements Contents List of Figures List of Tables Foreword 1. Introduction 1.1 3D cartography in archaeology 1.1.1 GIS & space in archaeology 1.1.2 3D models in 3D space 1.2 Conceptual design & operational framework 1.2.1 Data analysis – a methodological & archaeological approach 1.2.2 Data modelling – a methodological approach 1.2.3 Data acquistion – an archaeological & methodological approach 1.3 Structure of this book 1.3.1 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.3.2 Chapter 2: 3D data acquisition 1.3.3 Chapter 3: 3D data modelling 1.3.4 Chapter 4: 3D data analysis 1.3.5 Chapter 5: Discussion & conclusion 2. 3D Data Acquisition 2.1 Experimental setup & workflow 2.1.1 Archaeological background 2.1.2 Practical implementation 2.2 Documentation on-site 2.2.1 Geophysical data acquisition 2.2.2 Archaeological data acquisition 2.2.3 Pedological data acquisition 2.3 Documentation off-site 2.3.1 Data management & storage 2.3.2 Pedological laboratory analysis 3. 3D Data Modelling 3.1 Geophysical data modelling 3.2 Archaeological data modelling 3.3 Pedological data modelling 4. 3D Data Analysis 4.1 Technical analysis 4.2 Archaeological analysis 4.2.1 Analysis: geophysics & archaeology 4.2.2 Analysis: archaeology 4.2.3 Analysis: pedology & archaeology 4.3 Experiments 4.3.1 Colour test 4.3.2 SfM post-processing – Agisoft PhotoScan R˜ versus VSFM versus BundlerTools 5. Discussion & Conclusion 5.1 Discourse: 3D data acquisition 5.1.1 Geophysical prospection – WS i) 5.1.2 Surface documentation – WS ii, vi, vii) 5.1.3 Excavation – WS iii) 5.1.4 Soil sampling & documentation – WS iv, x) 5.1.5 Feature & find documentation – WS v) 5.1.6 TLS – WS vi) 5.1.7 SfM – WS vii) 5.1.8 Photogrammetry – WS viii) 5.1.9 Archaeological documentation – WS ix) 5.1.10 3D point cloud processing – WS xi, xiii) 5.1.11 3D point cloud creation – WS xii, xiv) 5.1.12 Orthorectification – WS xv) 5.1.13 Archaeological & pedological data processing –WS xvi, xvii) 5.1.14 Chemical analysis – WS xviii) 5.1.15 Summary of discourse: 3D data acquisition 5.2 Discourse: 3D data modelling 5.2.1 Geophysical model transformation – WS xix) 5.2.2 Model building of layers – WS xx, xxi) 5.2.3 Generation of orthophotos – WS xxii) 5.2.4 Conversion of 3D vector points & 3D polylines –WS xxiii) 5.2.5 Calculation of 3D distribution of chemical elements in soil samples – WS xxiv-xxv) 5.2.6 Summary of discourse: 3D data modelling 5.3 Discourse: 3D data analysis & visualisation 5.3.1 Visualisation i, ii – AN i, ii + WS xxvi) 5.3.2 Voxel volume versus interpolation, 3D polyline, raster surface – AN iii, iv-vii) 5.3.3 Voxel volume versus interpolation, 3D polyline, raster surface, DB-link – AN viii-x) 5.3.4 Geochemistry: calcium – AN xi-xiv) 5.3.5 Experiment: colour test 5.3.6 Experiment: SfM processing 5.3.7 Summary of discourse: 3D data analysis 5.4 Summary: theoretical concepts & practical implementation References Abbreviations & Glossary Back cover