The Use of 3D Models for Intra-Site Investigation in Archaeology
In the last few decades, the development of technology to aid in documenting, analysing and communicating information regarding archaeological sites has strongly affected the way scholars and researchers use and perceive the archaeological information retrieved during the field investigation process. Currently digital instruments are used in archaeology at every level and their employment during field activities increases the possibilities to document and visualize, with high accuracy of details, information detected in the field. In the frame of excavation practice, the development of powerful visualisation platforms, such as the Geographic Information System (GIS), and the introduction of digital acquisition tools, have provided archaeologists with the opportunity to fully reconstruct and study the spatial and temporal relations between the different strata detected on site in three dimensions (3D). This innovative new approach allows defining new field documentation strategies, through which it is possible to achieve a more accurate and detailed overview of the investigation process and to perform different new typologies of analysis in support of the site interpretation.
Bio – Nicoló Dell’Unto is a senior lecturer at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University, Sweden. He studied archaeology at the University of Rome, La Sapienza. Upon completion of his Masters, he had a joint appointment as a research assistant at the Institute for Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage, ITABC-CNR, Italy. There he took part in several international projects for 3D documentation and visualization of archaeological sites through the use of digital techniques. Later he obtained a PhD in Technologies and Management of Cultural Heritage at the Institute for Advanced Studies -IMT Lucca, Italy. He also worked as a postdoc at the University of California Merced before his current position at Lund University. His research is focused on the investigation of new methodologies for 3D documentation, visualization and analysis of intra-site excavation activities. Dell’Unto is currently working in different archaeological sites; including Uppåkra, (Sweden), Catalhoyuk (Turkey), and Pompeii (Italy) where he is studying how the use of 3D models, in support of the field investigation activities, affects the way archaeologists interpret archaeological sites.
