Modern heritage protection goes beyond the mere protection of individual buildings and objects. Modern technologies and techniques of field data capture and visual (3D) presentations are increasingly penetrating this field and are becoming more and more essential and necessary for archives, cadastres, and users and visitors of museums, exhibitions, collections, and archaeological parks. In the area between Kotlje and Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia, in 1476–1477, 9 to 10 anti-Turkish fortifications, called Turške Šance, reportedly were erected. The remains were left to decay slowly. This paper highlights the possibility of applying interdisciplinary data capture and 3D visualization techniques that are used in the fields of civil engineering and architecture for digital reconstruction of the anti-Turkish fortification as a case study in order to present them in the most contemporary way and emphasize them on a local, regional, national, and international level. Unfortunately, similar remains elsewhere in Europe are primarily ignored (with some notable exceptions). The digital reconstruction of anti-Turkish watchtowers therefore represented an extended reconstruction to revive that part of the historical heritage of Slovenia using the proposed techniques.
This paper tests the applicability of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) in obtaining spatial data from archaeological sites in forested areas. Our case study discusses the remains of the anti‐Turkish fortifications called ‘Turške Šance’—the defensive ditches that are preserved in the area of the Preški vrh (Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia). Up to 10 fortifications of various shapes and sizes were built in the last quarter of the 15th century. Today, they represent a unique archaeological site. A detailed geodetic survey of the site was performed and compared with results of photogrammetry using the DJI Phantom 4 PRO UAS drone and DJI Phantom camera. Furthermore, official Slovenian LiDAR data of the area were obtained, and archaeologic field surveys, in situ inspections and metal detector scanning were made. The points obtained from the total station were used for 3D modelling and taken as a reference. Drone photogrammetry was performed once per week to compare each point cloud with another using CloudCompare and to the reference one depending on the volume of the tree leaves which was estimated with green leaf index (GLI) and leaf area index (LAI). The increase of the tree leaves volume deteriorates the point cloud obtained with a UAS. The paper analyses how significant this influence is. As expected, the impact grows more severe with the increase in leaf mass from week to week.
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