The present study examined the references in the works of ancient authors to the ancient city and the Roman fortress Pitiunt, the geological aspects of the formation of the coastline in the Pitsunda Cape area in the first centuries AD and the results of archaeological research of the monument performed from 1952 to 1974. The creation of the 3D reconstruction of the exterior of the Pitiunt fortress during its prosperity in the IV century AD, along with the churches which were the first monuments of religious architecture in northwestern Colchis (northwestern Colchis comprises parts of the territory of modern Russia, Georgia and Abkhazia) was carried out based on the excavation plans and the principles of fortification and temple architecture that were accepted in the late Roman times, paying special attention to the geological paleoreconstructions.

The article presents the experience of the Institute of Archeology of the Russian Academy of Science’s Markul Expedition, which utilized digital technologies for the study, preservation, and popularization of cultural heritage. The objective of the Markul Expedition was to obtain a complete picture of the historical and cultural landscape of Northwestern Colchis in antiquity by applying two key digital technologies: geographic information systems (GIS) and photogrammetry. The results obtained from the latter were used both independently and were integrated into GIS as separate layers (orthophotomaps, digital terrain models) or as hyperlinks to objects (3D models, videos, plans, sections, etc.). The objects investigated by the expedition are very diverse both in size and in terms of shooting conditions. Accordingly, each category of archaeological site required an individual approach, and a separate methodology and equipment. The final visualization angles differ to a fair extent from the original samples even though photogrammetry provides more accurate results than manual measurements. There are several reasons for this, including the vegetation, which is a dominant factor in the Caucasus subtropical area and led to partial visual distortions of the photographed objects. For this reason, the final projections of architectural forms required corrections and some hand drawing. In this process, new aspects appeared in the final result, resulting from the archaeologist and artist’s differing views of the objects. Our experience of using modern remote sensing technologies is also presented in the article.

The Markul settlement is an architectural site of the local population of northwestern Colchis. It is located in the village of Markula, Ochamchira region, Republic of Abkhazia. Traditional and modern digital methods are combined here to study the settlement. Panorama images acquired by a drone are used to outline a final orthometric model of the landscape of the entire settlement. An ancient road was discovered after detailed analysis of the finished model. Field studies have confirmed the existence of the road. Photogrammetry is similarly used here to study the architectural remains of the Alakhash-abaa tower and the results suggest that it was erected in the Roman period. The excavation results also support this conclusion.

The territory of Northwestern Colchis, which today includes both the territory of Abkhazia and the territory of Russia (the Greater Sochi region, Krasnodar Krai), in ancient times was the most important contact zone of many peoples, but has been poorly studied archaeologically. Therefore, full-fledged field research and the creation of a specialized GIS of this territory is an urgent problem. Currently, the territory of Northwestern Colchis is a rapidly developing resort region, which threatens the destruction of historical and cultural heritage sites by anthropogenic activities. The existing GIS today includes 1,780 monuments (dolmens, temples, fortresses, settlements, individual locations and burial grounds without architectural remains above the surface) in the form of point objects. But in recent years, with the development of technologies, orthophotoplanes and DEMs have been included in the GIS structure. Shooting from a UAV and including the obtained models in the GIS structure can solve two problems at once: displaying an archaeological monument in the form of a polygonal theme and obtaining detailed layers displaying landscape conditions. This data will significantly expand the capabilities of GIS. The technique of obtaining an orthophotoplan of an archaeological object was worked out during a series of experiments that helped to identify the basic principles for photogrammetric photography in conditions of dense subtropical vegetation. Another important layer in GIS is historical maps. Their analysis, taking into account the analysis of the semantics of toponymy, the analysis of settlement structures in GIS, and analogies with already known monuments, made it possible to localize a number of toponyms with a high degree of probability. In addition to the analysis of historical maps, the settlement structure itself was analyzed, the main clusters were identified, and a predictive model of the missing fortresses of the Pontic Limes was created.