Terrestrial photogrammetry in archaeology

The Challenges of Processing Kite Aerial Photography Imagery with Modern Photogrammetry Techniques

“…Some applications include studying natural phenomena and behaviors such as erosion, river channels, glacial ice, and tornadoes (James & Robson, 2012;Lane, 2000;Ryan et al, 2015;Wakimoto, Atkins, & Wurman, 2011). Archaeologists have used photogrammetry to model field sites and reconstruct ancient structures since the 19 th century, although the specific techniques and technologies employed have become more sophisticated over time (Al-Ruzouq, 2012;Carbonnell, 1968;Drap et al, 2003;Fussell, 1982).…”

Recording In Situ Human Remains in Three Dimensions

“…Examples from paleoanthropology include stereograms of the La Chapelle-aux-Saints Neanderthal cranium (Boule, 1911). Stereoscopic aerial photos were used to create orthogonal maps in the early 20th century archaeology (Reeves, 1936), and "close-range" or "terrestrial" photogrammetry was used to document standing sites from 1885 in Persepolis (Carbonnell, 1968in Fussell, 1982. It was more regularly applied from the 1950s on excavations (Sjöqvist, 1960;Whittlesey, 1966;Ebert et al, 1979;Kimata, 1980), underwater archaeology (Rosencrantz, 1975), rock art (Clouten, 1974;Turpin et al, 1979;Rivett, 1980;Bezerra Mendonça, 1992), architecture (Dallas et al, 1995), artefacts (Campana, 1977), and human bone elements (Savara, 1965;Teaford, 1982).…”

“…It compared favorably to manual planning because, "draughtsmen took up to one and half days to record a single skeleton. With stereometric cameras positioned above the graves, four skeletons could be recorded in a single morning" (Fussell, 1982in Wölpert, 1964. However, relatively few studies recorded in situ remains in such detail until the 1970s and 1980s (Ubelaker, 1974;Brothwell, 1987;Waldron, 1987).…”

Using Structure from Motion Mapping to Record and Analyze Details of the Colossal Hats (Pukao) of Monumental Statues on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

“…Applications of SfM mapping in archaeological analysis have rapidly expanded in the past decade (e.g., De Reu, De Clercq et al 2013; De Reu, Plets et al 2013; Fritz et al 2016; Lerma and Muir 2014; McCarthy and Benjamin 2014; Meijer 2015), but the idea of using photogrammetry in archaeology is not new. Nearly 50 years ago, Atkinson (1968) used a stereometric camera system and Thompson-Watts photogrammetric plotter to record petroglyphs at Stonehenge, and others continued this practice (e.g., Dann and Jones 1984; Fussell 1982; Ogleby and Rivett 1985). While SfM has its roots in analog photography, the emergence of inexpensive high-resolution digital imagery offers new areas for systematically and computationally extracting three-dimensional information across large numbers of overlapping photographs.…”