Reconstructive Archaeology: In Situ Visualisation of Previously Excavated Finds and Features through an Ongoing Mixed Reality Process

Abstract

Archaeological excavation is a demolishing process. Rather few elements outlast extractive operations. Therefore, it is hard to visualise the precise location of unearthed finds at a previously excavated research area. Here, we present a mixed reality environment that displays in situ 3D models of features that were formerly extracted and recorded with 3D coordinates during unearthing operations. We created a tablet application that allows the user to view the position, orientation and dimensions of every recorded find while freely moving around the archaeological site with the device. To anchor the model, we used physical landmarks left at the excavation. A series of customised forms were created to show (onscreen) the different types of features by superimposing them over the terrain as perceived by the tablet camera. The application permits zooming-in, zooming-out, querying for specific artefacts and reading metadata associated with the archaeological elements. When at the office, our environment enables accurate visualisations of the 3D geometry concerning previously unearthed features and their spatial relationships. The application operates using the Swift programming language, Python scripts and ARKit technology. We present here an example of its use at Les Cottés, France, a palaeolithic site where thousands of artefacts are excavated out of six superimposed layers with a complex conformation.

Mixing Worlds

“…Studies of other applications for AR and MR, however, hold out the much wider potential of our deployment of large 3D datasets for archaeology-including for data management and research applications. Dilena and Soressi (2020) demonstrated the potential and current limitations of large datasets of precisely positioned excavated artifacts. Although there are challenges due to memory and sensor constraints, they proposed using phone-based AR to place artifacts in the correct position at the real site, hovering above the ground where they were originally excavated-which we agree is one of the most powerful potential uses of AR and, eventually, full immersive MR. Barbier and colleagues (2017) developed an annotation system to allow archaeologists to examine megalithic cave artwork remotely from the office or classroom.…”

New Visual Analytics Tool and Spatial Statistics to Explore Archeological Data: The Case of the Paleolithic Sequence of La Roche-à-Pierrot, Saint-Césaire, France

“…In this context, new digital tools such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), 3D geovisualization and photogrammetry hold a prominent place, given their increasing utility and ability to extract, study, and characterize the spatial dimension of archeological data (e.g. 3D models), especially on an intra-site scale (Discamps et al 2016;Dilena & Soressi 2020). Such tools can be applied to archival documentation (e.g.…”

3D Reconstruction of Cultural Heritage Sites as an Educational Approach. The Sanctuary of Delphi

“…Despite the widely recognized capabilities of interactive 3D graphics and virtual environments in archaeology, the use of these tools in educational environments is still limited, while it is overused in other environments [24][25][26][27][28][29].…”