Three‐dimensional (3D) models derived from digital survey techniques have increasingly become a mainstay of archaeological research and cultural heritage management. The high accuracy of such modelling makes it an attractive solution for a wide range of challenges from site recording and interpretation to object analysis and reconstruction. The present paper focuses on a new 3D digitization method using stereoscopic video for the documentation, analysis, and representation of archaeological contexts as part of shipwreck investigations off southeast Sicily at Marzamemi. This sixth‐century ce vessel sank in shallow water (7–8 m) while carrying a massive cargo of largely prefabricated architectural elements intended for the construction and decoration of a church somewhere in the late antique west. This dynamic site presents significant challenges to the interpretation of depositional and post‐depositional events as well the reconstruction of the original cargo and individual architectural elements. Therefore, 3D documentation underwater at Marzamemi has centred on new methods for stereoscopic scanning of the site, topography, and large architectural finds, allowing not only more rapid and precise mapping but insights into site formation processes and the organizational mechanisms behind the cargo assemblage. The adoption of this new system based on a precise workflow and simple, inexpensive hardware combined with readily available software allows more accurate and rapid digital recording underwater to a high standard across scales, from the site level down to the individual artefact. This process, named ISU3D (Integrated System for Underwater 3D Digitization), offers innovative solutions not only for archaeological field research but for heritage management and public outreach.

ABSTRACT:In the research started within the SINAPSIS project of the Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa an underwater stereoscopic scanning aimed at surveying of submerged archaeological sites, integrable to standard systems for geomorphological detection of the coast, has been developed. The project involves the construction of hardware consisting of an aluminum frame supporting a pair of GoPro Hero Black Edition cameras and software for the production of point clouds and the initial processing of data. The software has features for stereoscopic vision system calibration, reduction of noise and the of distortion of underwater captured images, searching for corresponding points of stereoscopic images using stereo-matching algorithms (dense and sparse), for points cloud generating and filtering. Only after various calibration and survey tests carried out during the excavations envisaged in the project, the mastery of methods for an efficient acquisition of data has been achieved. The current development of the system has allowed generation of portions of digital models of real submerged scenes. A semiautomatic procedure for global registration of partial models is under development as a useful aid for the study and musealization of sites.