A talk given at Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. RCHMW Seminar. A seminar organised to guide heritage managers, education and outreach officers, and museum and local government officers in Wales and further afield through some of the newest technologies available for researching and promoting heritage sites. This was done through the medium of papers presented by key speakers who talked through practical examples where such technologies have been used, what their problems and experiences may have been and the practical outcomes for communities or heritage managers

1. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Survey in the new
millennium
Paul Cripps
•Geomatics Manager, Wessex Archaeology
•PGR student, University of Southampton, Archaeological Computing Research Group
Tools for the 21st
century archaeologist

2. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Overview
• Why?
– Why do we use laser-
scanners?
– What are the
benefits/problems?
• How?
– How do we use the tools
available?
• Case studies
– Objects
– Buildings
– Landscapes
– Analysis

3. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Why?

4. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
An additional survey tool
• Laser scanners provide additional survey tools
– Not universal panacea
– Ideal for capturing large amounts of surface
measurements
– Part of an armoury which includes TST, GPS and
laser scanners
• Complementary not replacement
– Typically used as part of a survey methodology
– Typically used in conjunction with other survey
equipment

5. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Right tools for the job
• Laser scanners record surfaces
– cf traditional recording of lines and edges using TST/GPS
– Surface recording ideally suited to many heritage applications
– eg buildings, earthworks, landscapes, objects
• Laser scanners are very fast
– Large volumes of high precision data captured
– High speed data capture
• Variety of scanners suited to different purposes:
– Close-range or triangulating
– Time of flight or LiDAR
– Many manufacturers: Leica, Cyra, Konica Minolta, Reigl, etc

6. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Some scanners
• Leica Scanstation II
– 360° horizontal scanning range
– 270° vertical scanning range
– Sites, buildings, topographic
• Riegl Z360
– 360° horizontal scanning range
– 90° vertical scanning range
– Sites, buildings, topographic
• Minolta VI-900 scanner
– Behaves more like a camera, recording position
of an emitted stripe of laser light
– Very high 170µ resolution (0.17mm)
– Objects, surface detail

7. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
How?

8. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Practicalities
• Costs of ownership
– Expensive hardware and software
– Hire vs purchase
– Partnerships
• Skills
– Survey design
– Field survey
– Data processing
• Data
– Massive datasets

9. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Workflow 1
• Careful survey design required
– Placement of scan stations
• Field survey
– Reduced time vs TST/GPS
• Post-processing
– Registration
– Decimation
• Analysis
– GIS or CAD

10. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Workflow 2
• Different approach from traditional survey
• Captures data regardless of product or purpose
– Determined by machine used and settings applied
• No need for repeat surveys to produce alternative
products
– reusable data
• Choice of survey points becomes office based
– Select from point cloud
– cf TST/GPS choice of points field based
• Reduced time in the field vs increased time in the office
– Overall reduction in time…?

11. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Products and outputs
• Point cloud capable of supporting range of outputs
– Contour plots
– CAD drawings and extracted vectors, including elevation
drawings, at any scale
– Solid modelling and fitting of primitives
– Wireframe models
– Digital Surface Models (DSMs) including Digital Elevation
Models (DEMs) suitable for use in GIS
• Archival datasets
– ASCII text
– Big Data!

12. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Case studies

13. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Buildings: Tidworth garrison
• Record garrison in
advance of
redevelopment
• Largest
archaeological laser
scan as of June
2007
• Visualisation of
existing buildings
and their context
• 0.75 km2
surveyed
• 37 buildings
• 25 billion
measurements
• 18Gb data file
• 10-25mm effective
resolution
Point cloud of the barracks (56251)

14. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Integrated approach: Stonehenge
• Multi scale
– Upstanding megaliths
(time-of-flight scanner)
– Details of megalith
surfaces (triangulating
scanner)
– Landscape (airborne
LiDAR)
• Novel analysis
– Accessibility shading
• Dissemination
– Animations
– Rendered views

15. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Stonehenge carvings
Left: (top to bottom) stone 3, stone 3 with ‘axes’ highlighted, stone 53 and stone 4
Above: stone 3 lit from below
Right: accessibility shading

16. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Buildings: Orcheston church
• Evaluation of technology
back in 2001
• Tested range of outputs
and extraction of vectors
Point cloud
Vector model Surface model

17. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Objects: Amesbury Archer bones
• Morphological
analysis of skull
– Cross-sections
– Measurements
– Profiles

18. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Landscape: South Wales
• 19 airborne
LiDAR datasets
• 40km2
• 133.5 million data
points
• 2 surface models
– Unfiltered
elevation
– Intensity
Elevation component Intensity component

19. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Tree graffiti
• Record and enhance tree graffiti
– Historical WWI and WWII graffiti warped by
tree growth
• Unwrapping…?
– R&D
– Challenging!

20. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Topographic survey: Hamdon Hill
• Topographic survey of earthworks
• Hillfort containing quarry
• Combination approach: Laser
scanner + GPS

21. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Topographic survey: Salisbury Plain
• R&D in collaboration with Leica
• Effectiveness as topographic survey tool
• Vegetation removal

22. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
Integration & Analysis: GIS
• Integrate multiple sources
– Aerial photos, survey data, remote
sensing, terrains, HER data, OS data,
etc
• GIS-based analysis
– Viewshed & visual sensitivity
– Water flow & hydrology
– Erosion/Deposition models
– Slope/Aspect/Elevation calculations
– Cross-sections and profiles
• Environment Agency LiDAR DTMs
– Detailed terrain models ideally suited
– Unfiltered data contains modern
‘clutter’

23. http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/
Wessex Archaeology
Digital Past: New Technologies in Heritage, Interpretation and Outreach. February 25th
2009.
fin
• Thanks to:
– English Heritage
– Archaeoptics
– 3D Laser Mapping
– Environment Agency
– Warner Land Surveys
– Leica