Archaeologist with a Master's in Prehistoric and Early Historic Archaeology from the University of Vienna. I specialize in Archaeological Prospection, Fieldwork, GIS, and Spatial Data Management for Landscape Research. Currently lecturing at the University of Vienna and part of a European team developing standards for Cultural Heritage Investigation and Management. Phone: +43-1-4277-40304 Address: IC-ArchPro Universität Wien co Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science Franz-Klein-Gasse 1/III A-1190 Wien
Two 11th-and 12th-century entrance doors from the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, made of differ... more Two 11th-and 12th-century entrance doors from the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, made of different copper alloys and woods, were non-invasively examined in situ. The chemical composition of the metals, the way in which different metal parts were joined together, the tree species used to construct the supporting structures and the age of the wood are determined. A portable ED-XRF instrument and optical microscopes were used. The doors were also photographed to produce high-resolution orthophotos and 3D models. The metal parts of the doors were made of leaded tin-bronze and quaternary Cu-Sn-Zn-Pb alloys and were mounted on a wooden multi-layer structure of larch and silver fir; the dendrochronological dates of some of the larch boards are 1965, teminus post quem.
The bronze doors of the Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy, are a special case in art history ... more The bronze doors of the Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy, are a special case in art history research. They were made by several workshops during the twelfth century: stylistically, two to three workshops were assumed to produce the metal parts of the door. However, it is still unclear when exactly and if this interpretation can be supported by the chemical composition of the metal. In this research we aimed to verify the art history interpretation by identifying the alloy composition of each individual metal plate. The composition of the supporting wooden structures are discussed. A portable ED-XRF instrument and optical microscopes were used to analyse and document the doors non-invasively. The doors were also photographed to produce high resolution orthophotos and 3D models. We can confirm that the metal parts of the doors were made of leaded tin-bronze as well as leaded brass and mounted on a wooden structure mainly made of spruce and oak wood. Chemically, two/three different groups of alloys have been identified, which can be associated with two or three different workshops, and which largely correspond to the stylistic interpretation.
The Iron-Age-Danube project (Monumentalized early iron age landscapes in the Danube river basin),... more The Iron-Age-Danube project (Monumentalized early iron age landscapes in the Danube river basin), co-financed by the Interreg Danube Transnational programme, is focused on the research, protection and sustainable touristic use of the archaeological heritage from the Early Iron Age in the Danube region. In the frame of the project two strategies, one on research and heritage protection and other on heritage promotion and touristic usage of archaeological landscapes, have been adopted. The strategies are combining a bottom-up analytical approach by incorporating the SWOT analysis from the eight micro-regions in four countries with a to-down approach by integrating the recommendations of the European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st century (Strategy 21). The analysis showed 24 major challenges faced by the Iron-Age heritage, which can be tackled by 12 recommendations in the field of research and monument protection and 9 recommendations in the field of sustainable cultural tour...
Due to the large scale geophysical prospection in the small town of Rechnitz in Burgenland, Austr... more Due to the large scale geophysical prospection in the small town of Rechnitz in Burgenland, Austria three circular ditch structures, so called Kreisgrabenanlagen (KGA's) as well as plenty of early neolithic house structures have been discovered.
Seit wenigen Jahren ist es möglich, mit Hilfe von flugzeuggetragenen Laserscannern Waldgebiete sy... more Seit wenigen Jahren ist es möglich, mit Hilfe von flugzeuggetragenen Laserscannern Waldgebiete systematisch nach archäologischen Fundplätzen zu durchsuchen. Dabei hat sich die neueste Generation von Laserscannern (sog. Full-Waveform-Sensoren) als äußerst nützlich erwiesen, mit deren Hilfe selbst in dicht bewaldeten Gebieten detaillierte und präzise Geländemodelle vermessen werden können. Im Rahmen eines zweijährigen Projektes konnte nach einer Pilotphase das Leithagebirge, ein etwa 200 km2 großes, zusammenhängendes Waldgebiet, gescannt werden. Das resultierende Geländemodell mit 0,5 m Auflösung zeigt noch nie dagewesene Einblicke in eine historisch über mehrere Jahrtausende gewachsene Kulturlandschaft mit Fluren, Be-stattungsplätzen, Siedlungsräumen, Befestigungen, Wege-netzen und industriellen Anlagen. Somit konnte sich ALS bei der Auffindung von archäologischen Fundplätzen unter Vegetation bewähren und wird sich in naher Zukunft als archäologische Prospektionsmethode etablieren können.
The Leitha river is an important tributary to the Danube in eastern Austria. It is formed by the ... more The Leitha river is an important tributary to the Danube in eastern Austria. It is formed by the Schwarza river, originating in the Northern Calcareous Alps, and the Pitten river, coming from the Lower Austroalpine unit of the Wechsel area. The geometry of paleochannels of the Leitha river was investigated in the framework of an archaeological project analysing patterns of prehistoric settlements in this region. For such considerations the present regulated condition of the rivers are not a well suited analogue since they behave in different ways to natural rivers. The study area is located between the confluence of Pitten and Schwarza (forming the Leitha) near Lanzenkirchen and Bruck/Leitha by paleochannel digitization in a GIS environment using infrared and black and white aerial photography. This section is especially suitable for the study of dynamic fluvial processes and the comparison between former natural river behavior and present regulated riverbed, because of the transition from relatively high to low river slopes in this section. Additionally, this area has been densely populated in prehistoric and historic times. Thus interaction between land use, settlement pattern and the dynamic system of the Leitha river can be studied. The digitized paleochannels were analysed together with additional data such as a digital elevation model, soil maps, Quaternary thickness maps and several lithostrati-graphic sections in the alluvial deposits of the Paleo-Leitha done by H. Kellermann during archaeological excavations north of Frohsdorf. Characteristic morphometric parameters of the Leitha river, like stream slope and paleochannel shape, were calculated. Generally, the stream slope of the investigated river section decreases towards the NNE from 0.23° to 0.07°. Simultaneously to the overall continuous change in slope a transition from braided river type channels to single meandering channels can be observed. The course of the Leitha in the investigated area is located within the Vienna basin, a major pull-apart structure with tectonic activity from Miocene to present. Fault-slip analysis, seismicity and tilted terraces of the Danube and fault scarps indicate Qua-ternary activity for at least some of the faults. The effects of this tectonic activity are well preserved in the paleochannel geometry and river profiles of the Leitha river. Abandoned meander belts, as an example, reveal possible tectonic tilting towards the Southeast in the Southern Vienna Basin and a paleochannel migration towards the same direction. The constantly changing river channels and linked flood hazards in the floodplains has always been an important determining factor for the selection of settlement areas. Archaeological sites, for instance, are mainly located on the rim of the Würmian terraces, at the margin of the subrecent floodplain.
Fera, M., Schwarzenbach „Burg“, Österreich. In: Lexikon zur keltischen Archäologie (Encyclopedia ... more Fera, M., Schwarzenbach „Burg“, Österreich. In: Lexikon zur keltischen Archäologie (Encyclopedia of Celtic Archaeology), Volume: L-Z, Publisher: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Editors: S. Sievers, O. H. Urban, P. Ramsl, pp.1686-1688
Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag stellt ein GIS-basiertes System vor, das im Rahmen eines Projekte... more Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag stellt ein GIS-basiertes System vor, das im Rahmen eines Projektes zur Siedlungsarchäologie im Sudan entwickelt wurde. Die dreidimensionale Aufnahme von Untersuchungen in einer pharaonischen Stadt und Nekropole sowie ihrem Umfeld erforderte ein robustes und an verschiedene Umwelt- und Befundsituationen anpassbares Dokumentations- und Analysewerkzeug. Neben einem Zugewinn an geometrischer Genauigkeit und Zeitersparnis, konnte durch das System auch ein Mehrwert für die Forscher_innen zur Beschreibung und Interpretation der Befunde im täglichen Einsatz erreicht werden. Summary: This paper presents a GIS-based system, that was developed and used at a project investigating settlement and funeral areas in Sudan. The 3-dimensional documentation of a pharaonic town and associated funeral area, founded and used during the New Kingdom in Nubia, required a robust and adaptable system to deal with various feature types and scales in challenging environmental settings. The system based on a Totalstation, Image-based Modelling and a Geodatabase enabled the researchers to enhance the geometric accuracy of the documentation and speed up the process to gain more field time for descriptive and interpretative tasks.
The main purpose of any aerial photo archive is to allow quick access to images based on content ... more The main purpose of any aerial photo archive is to allow quick access to images based on content and location. Therefore, next to a description of technical parameters and depicted content, georeferencing of every image is of vital importance. This can be done either by identifying the main photographed object (georeferencing of the image content) or by mapping the center point and/or the outline of the image footprint. The paper proposes a new image archiving workflow. The new pipeline is based on the parameters that are logged by a commercial, but cost-effective GNSS/IMU solution and processed with in-house-developed software. Together, these components allow one to automatically geolocate and rectify the (oblique) aerial images (by a simple planar rectification using the exterior orientation parameters) and to retrieve their footprints with reasonable accuracy, which is automatically stored as a vector file. The data of three test flights were used to determine the accuracy of the device, which turned out to be better than 1° for roll and pitch (mean between 0.0 and 0.21 with a standard deviation of 0.17–0.46) and better than 2.5° for yaw angles (mean between 0.0 and −0.14 with a standard deviation of 0.58–0.94). This turned out to be sufficient to enable a fast and almost automatic GIS-based archiving of all of the imagery.
Proceedings of the XXIIIrd International CIPA Symposium, 2011
Stratigraphic archaeological excavations demand high-resolution documentation techniques for 3D r... more Stratigraphic archaeological excavations demand high-resolution documentation techniques for 3D recording. Today, this is typically accomplished using total stations or terrestrial laser scanners. This paper demonstrates the potential of another technique that is low-cost and easy to execute. It takes advantage of software using Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, which are known for their ability to reconstruct camera pose and three-dimensional scene geometry (rendered as a sparse point cloud) from a series of overlapping photographs captured by a camera moving around the scene. When complemented by stereo matching algorithms, detailed 3D surface models can be built from such relatively oriented photo collections in a fully automated way. The absolute orientation of the model can be derived by the manual measurement of control points. The approach is extremely flexible and appropriate to deal with a wide variety of imagery, because this computer vision approach can also work with imagery resulting from a randomly moving camera (i.e. uncontrolled conditions) and calibrated optics are not a prerequisite. For a few years, these algorithms are embedded in several free and low-cost software packages. This paper will outline how such a program can be applied to map archaeological excavations in a very fast and uncomplicated way, using imagery shot with a standard compact digital camera (even if the images were not taken for this purpose). Archived data from previous excavations of VIAS-University of Vienna has been chosen and the derived digital surface models and orthophotos have been examined for their usefulness for archaeological applications. The absolute georeferencing of the resulting surface models was performed with the manual identification of fourteen control points. In order to express the positional accuracy of the generated 3D surface models, the NSSDA guidelines were applied. Simultaneously acquired terrestrial laser scanning data – which had been processed in our standard workflow – was used to independently check the results. The vertical accuracy of the surface models generated by SfM was found to be within 0.04 m at the 95 % confidence interval, whereas several visual assessments proved a very high horizontal positional accuracy as well.
In diesem Artikel präsentieren wir eine Anwendung von 3D-Modellierungen archäologischer Grabungen... more In diesem Artikel präsentieren wir eine Anwendung von 3D-Modellierungen archäologischer Grabungen für die Beantwortung archäologischer Fragestellungen. Als Fallbeispiel dienen Ausgrabungsdaten eines frühbronzezeitlichen wiedergeöffneten Körpergrabes aus Weiden am See im Burgenland. Für die durch zwei Bestattungen und eine Wiederöffnung komplexen Formationsprozesse des Grabes wurde ein Weg gesucht, der eine integrierte Darstellung und interaktive Analyse ermöglicht. Mittels bildbasierten Modellierungsverfahren wurde eine Sequenz von 3D-Oberflächen hergestellt, welche die Abfolge von Befundsituationen wiedergibt. Die Integration und Analyse der 3D-Modelle im Zusammenspiel mit weiteren archäologischen Daten wurde in einem GIS (QGIS, Esri ArcScene) vorgenommen. Eine solche Verwendung von 3D-Modellen geht über deren bisher häufigste Nutzungen als (zusätzliche) Visualisierungen oder im Bereich von Rekonstruktionen hinaus und stellt einen ersten Schritt zur Nutzung des vollen Potenzials der Daten dar.
3D-Models, GIS, Archaeothanatology, Taphonomy
Bergerbrant S., Sabatini S. (eds.) Counterpoint: Essays in Archaeology and Heritage Studies in Honour of Professor Kristian Kristiansen (BAR International Series 2508). Oxford, Jun 15, 2013
Two 11th-and 12th-century entrance doors from the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, made of differ... more Two 11th-and 12th-century entrance doors from the Basilica di San Marco in Venice, made of different copper alloys and woods, were non-invasively examined in situ. The chemical composition of the metals, the way in which different metal parts were joined together, the tree species used to construct the supporting structures and the age of the wood are determined. A portable ED-XRF instrument and optical microscopes were used. The doors were also photographed to produce high-resolution orthophotos and 3D models. The metal parts of the doors were made of leaded tin-bronze and quaternary Cu-Sn-Zn-Pb alloys and were mounted on a wooden multi-layer structure of larch and silver fir; the dendrochronological dates of some of the larch boards are 1965, teminus post quem.
The bronze doors of the Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy, are a special case in art history ... more The bronze doors of the Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy, are a special case in art history research. They were made by several workshops during the twelfth century: stylistically, two to three workshops were assumed to produce the metal parts of the door. However, it is still unclear when exactly and if this interpretation can be supported by the chemical composition of the metal. In this research we aimed to verify the art history interpretation by identifying the alloy composition of each individual metal plate. The composition of the supporting wooden structures are discussed. A portable ED-XRF instrument and optical microscopes were used to analyse and document the doors non-invasively. The doors were also photographed to produce high resolution orthophotos and 3D models. We can confirm that the metal parts of the doors were made of leaded tin-bronze as well as leaded brass and mounted on a wooden structure mainly made of spruce and oak wood. Chemically, two/three different groups of alloys have been identified, which can be associated with two or three different workshops, and which largely correspond to the stylistic interpretation.
The Iron-Age-Danube project (Monumentalized early iron age landscapes in the Danube river basin),... more The Iron-Age-Danube project (Monumentalized early iron age landscapes in the Danube river basin), co-financed by the Interreg Danube Transnational programme, is focused on the research, protection and sustainable touristic use of the archaeological heritage from the Early Iron Age in the Danube region. In the frame of the project two strategies, one on research and heritage protection and other on heritage promotion and touristic usage of archaeological landscapes, have been adopted. The strategies are combining a bottom-up analytical approach by incorporating the SWOT analysis from the eight micro-regions in four countries with a to-down approach by integrating the recommendations of the European Cultural Heritage Strategy for the 21st century (Strategy 21). The analysis showed 24 major challenges faced by the Iron-Age heritage, which can be tackled by 12 recommendations in the field of research and monument protection and 9 recommendations in the field of sustainable cultural tour...
Due to the large scale geophysical prospection in the small town of Rechnitz in Burgenland, Austr... more Due to the large scale geophysical prospection in the small town of Rechnitz in Burgenland, Austria three circular ditch structures, so called Kreisgrabenanlagen (KGA's) as well as plenty of early neolithic house structures have been discovered.
Seit wenigen Jahren ist es möglich, mit Hilfe von flugzeuggetragenen Laserscannern Waldgebiete sy... more Seit wenigen Jahren ist es möglich, mit Hilfe von flugzeuggetragenen Laserscannern Waldgebiete systematisch nach archäologischen Fundplätzen zu durchsuchen. Dabei hat sich die neueste Generation von Laserscannern (sog. Full-Waveform-Sensoren) als äußerst nützlich erwiesen, mit deren Hilfe selbst in dicht bewaldeten Gebieten detaillierte und präzise Geländemodelle vermessen werden können. Im Rahmen eines zweijährigen Projektes konnte nach einer Pilotphase das Leithagebirge, ein etwa 200 km2 großes, zusammenhängendes Waldgebiet, gescannt werden. Das resultierende Geländemodell mit 0,5 m Auflösung zeigt noch nie dagewesene Einblicke in eine historisch über mehrere Jahrtausende gewachsene Kulturlandschaft mit Fluren, Be-stattungsplätzen, Siedlungsräumen, Befestigungen, Wege-netzen und industriellen Anlagen. Somit konnte sich ALS bei der Auffindung von archäologischen Fundplätzen unter Vegetation bewähren und wird sich in naher Zukunft als archäologische Prospektionsmethode etablieren können.
The Leitha river is an important tributary to the Danube in eastern Austria. It is formed by the ... more The Leitha river is an important tributary to the Danube in eastern Austria. It is formed by the Schwarza river, originating in the Northern Calcareous Alps, and the Pitten river, coming from the Lower Austroalpine unit of the Wechsel area. The geometry of paleochannels of the Leitha river was investigated in the framework of an archaeological project analysing patterns of prehistoric settlements in this region. For such considerations the present regulated condition of the rivers are not a well suited analogue since they behave in different ways to natural rivers. The study area is located between the confluence of Pitten and Schwarza (forming the Leitha) near Lanzenkirchen and Bruck/Leitha by paleochannel digitization in a GIS environment using infrared and black and white aerial photography. This section is especially suitable for the study of dynamic fluvial processes and the comparison between former natural river behavior and present regulated riverbed, because of the transition from relatively high to low river slopes in this section. Additionally, this area has been densely populated in prehistoric and historic times. Thus interaction between land use, settlement pattern and the dynamic system of the Leitha river can be studied. The digitized paleochannels were analysed together with additional data such as a digital elevation model, soil maps, Quaternary thickness maps and several lithostrati-graphic sections in the alluvial deposits of the Paleo-Leitha done by H. Kellermann during archaeological excavations north of Frohsdorf. Characteristic morphometric parameters of the Leitha river, like stream slope and paleochannel shape, were calculated. Generally, the stream slope of the investigated river section decreases towards the NNE from 0.23° to 0.07°. Simultaneously to the overall continuous change in slope a transition from braided river type channels to single meandering channels can be observed. The course of the Leitha in the investigated area is located within the Vienna basin, a major pull-apart structure with tectonic activity from Miocene to present. Fault-slip analysis, seismicity and tilted terraces of the Danube and fault scarps indicate Qua-ternary activity for at least some of the faults. The effects of this tectonic activity are well preserved in the paleochannel geometry and river profiles of the Leitha river. Abandoned meander belts, as an example, reveal possible tectonic tilting towards the Southeast in the Southern Vienna Basin and a paleochannel migration towards the same direction. The constantly changing river channels and linked flood hazards in the floodplains has always been an important determining factor for the selection of settlement areas. Archaeological sites, for instance, are mainly located on the rim of the Würmian terraces, at the margin of the subrecent floodplain.
Fera, M., Schwarzenbach „Burg“, Österreich. In: Lexikon zur keltischen Archäologie (Encyclopedia ... more Fera, M., Schwarzenbach „Burg“, Österreich. In: Lexikon zur keltischen Archäologie (Encyclopedia of Celtic Archaeology), Volume: L-Z, Publisher: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, Editors: S. Sievers, O. H. Urban, P. Ramsl, pp.1686-1688
Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag stellt ein GIS-basiertes System vor, das im Rahmen eines Projekte... more Zusammenfassung: Dieser Beitrag stellt ein GIS-basiertes System vor, das im Rahmen eines Projektes zur Siedlungsarchäologie im Sudan entwickelt wurde. Die dreidimensionale Aufnahme von Untersuchungen in einer pharaonischen Stadt und Nekropole sowie ihrem Umfeld erforderte ein robustes und an verschiedene Umwelt- und Befundsituationen anpassbares Dokumentations- und Analysewerkzeug. Neben einem Zugewinn an geometrischer Genauigkeit und Zeitersparnis, konnte durch das System auch ein Mehrwert für die Forscher_innen zur Beschreibung und Interpretation der Befunde im täglichen Einsatz erreicht werden. Summary: This paper presents a GIS-based system, that was developed and used at a project investigating settlement and funeral areas in Sudan. The 3-dimensional documentation of a pharaonic town and associated funeral area, founded and used during the New Kingdom in Nubia, required a robust and adaptable system to deal with various feature types and scales in challenging environmental settings. The system based on a Totalstation, Image-based Modelling and a Geodatabase enabled the researchers to enhance the geometric accuracy of the documentation and speed up the process to gain more field time for descriptive and interpretative tasks.
The main purpose of any aerial photo archive is to allow quick access to images based on content ... more The main purpose of any aerial photo archive is to allow quick access to images based on content and location. Therefore, next to a description of technical parameters and depicted content, georeferencing of every image is of vital importance. This can be done either by identifying the main photographed object (georeferencing of the image content) or by mapping the center point and/or the outline of the image footprint. The paper proposes a new image archiving workflow. The new pipeline is based on the parameters that are logged by a commercial, but cost-effective GNSS/IMU solution and processed with in-house-developed software. Together, these components allow one to automatically geolocate and rectify the (oblique) aerial images (by a simple planar rectification using the exterior orientation parameters) and to retrieve their footprints with reasonable accuracy, which is automatically stored as a vector file. The data of three test flights were used to determine the accuracy of the device, which turned out to be better than 1° for roll and pitch (mean between 0.0 and 0.21 with a standard deviation of 0.17–0.46) and better than 2.5° for yaw angles (mean between 0.0 and −0.14 with a standard deviation of 0.58–0.94). This turned out to be sufficient to enable a fast and almost automatic GIS-based archiving of all of the imagery.
Proceedings of the XXIIIrd International CIPA Symposium, 2011
Stratigraphic archaeological excavations demand high-resolution documentation techniques for 3D r... more Stratigraphic archaeological excavations demand high-resolution documentation techniques for 3D recording. Today, this is typically accomplished using total stations or terrestrial laser scanners. This paper demonstrates the potential of another technique that is low-cost and easy to execute. It takes advantage of software using Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, which are known for their ability to reconstruct camera pose and three-dimensional scene geometry (rendered as a sparse point cloud) from a series of overlapping photographs captured by a camera moving around the scene. When complemented by stereo matching algorithms, detailed 3D surface models can be built from such relatively oriented photo collections in a fully automated way. The absolute orientation of the model can be derived by the manual measurement of control points. The approach is extremely flexible and appropriate to deal with a wide variety of imagery, because this computer vision approach can also work with imagery resulting from a randomly moving camera (i.e. uncontrolled conditions) and calibrated optics are not a prerequisite. For a few years, these algorithms are embedded in several free and low-cost software packages. This paper will outline how such a program can be applied to map archaeological excavations in a very fast and uncomplicated way, using imagery shot with a standard compact digital camera (even if the images were not taken for this purpose). Archived data from previous excavations of VIAS-University of Vienna has been chosen and the derived digital surface models and orthophotos have been examined for their usefulness for archaeological applications. The absolute georeferencing of the resulting surface models was performed with the manual identification of fourteen control points. In order to express the positional accuracy of the generated 3D surface models, the NSSDA guidelines were applied. Simultaneously acquired terrestrial laser scanning data – which had been processed in our standard workflow – was used to independently check the results. The vertical accuracy of the surface models generated by SfM was found to be within 0.04 m at the 95 % confidence interval, whereas several visual assessments proved a very high horizontal positional accuracy as well.
In diesem Artikel präsentieren wir eine Anwendung von 3D-Modellierungen archäologischer Grabungen... more In diesem Artikel präsentieren wir eine Anwendung von 3D-Modellierungen archäologischer Grabungen für die Beantwortung archäologischer Fragestellungen. Als Fallbeispiel dienen Ausgrabungsdaten eines frühbronzezeitlichen wiedergeöffneten Körpergrabes aus Weiden am See im Burgenland. Für die durch zwei Bestattungen und eine Wiederöffnung komplexen Formationsprozesse des Grabes wurde ein Weg gesucht, der eine integrierte Darstellung und interaktive Analyse ermöglicht. Mittels bildbasierten Modellierungsverfahren wurde eine Sequenz von 3D-Oberflächen hergestellt, welche die Abfolge von Befundsituationen wiedergibt. Die Integration und Analyse der 3D-Modelle im Zusammenspiel mit weiteren archäologischen Daten wurde in einem GIS (QGIS, Esri ArcScene) vorgenommen. Eine solche Verwendung von 3D-Modellen geht über deren bisher häufigste Nutzungen als (zusätzliche) Visualisierungen oder im Bereich von Rekonstruktionen hinaus und stellt einen ersten Schritt zur Nutzung des vollen Potenzials der Daten dar.
3D-Models, GIS, Archaeothanatology, Taphonomy
Bergerbrant S., Sabatini S. (eds.) Counterpoint: Essays in Archaeology and Heritage Studies in Honour of Professor Kristian Kristiansen (BAR International Series 2508). Oxford, Jun 15, 2013
LBI ArchPro Symposium in cooperation with the Danube University Krems, Austria 2. – 3. April 2019... more LBI ArchPro Symposium in cooperation with the Danube University Krems, Austria 2. – 3. April 2019 at Danube University Krems The main objective of the symposium is to offer a multidisciplinary forum to discuss relevant topics and specific issues in cultural heritage protection and management and the application of digital methods for this purpose. The program shall encourage the scientific exchange and strengthen collaborative ties between participating institutions as well as increase the awareness of non-invasive methods in cultural heritage protection among stakeholders and the interested public. Session 3: Raising Awareness for digital methods for cultural property protection and cultural heritage management
Virtual archaeological landscapes of the Danube region (Danube´s Archaeological eLandscapes) is a... more Virtual archaeological landscapes of the Danube region (Danube´s Archaeological eLandscapes) is a project co-financed by the Interreg Danube Transnational programme. The project´s major goal is to regionally, nationally and internationally increase the visibility of the cultural heritage, and in particular the archaeological landscapes of the Danube region, making them more attractive for an integration into the region’s tourism offers. In order to achieve this goal, new technologies are employed throughout the project. Within the framework of the project, a strategy has been adopted by the partners from 10 countries of the Danube region. The strategy approaches the topic of archaeological heritage from an archaeological, social and a technological standpoint. By using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analyses conducted by the working groups, major challenges in the sector were defined, leading to two main strategy units. The first unit focuses on working processes from the archaeological discovery to a virtual visualisation, and the second on the potential of archaeological heritage in the digital world. To support the further adaptation and development of new technologies for the archaeological sector, the strategy concludes with 12 recommendations for heritage stakeholders. Priority lists are adopted for the implementation of the recommendations at national level for each participating country.
The present study has been developed in the framework of Routes4U, the Joint Programme between th... more The present study has been developed in the framework of Routes4U, the Joint Programme between the Council of Europe and the European Commission (DG REGIO). Routes4U aims to foster regional development through the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe programme in the four EU macro-regions: the Adriatic and Ionian, Alpine, Baltic Sea and Danube Regions. A special thank you goes to the author Martin Fera, and to the numerous partners and stakeholders who supported the study. The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe
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Papers by Martin Fera
Im Rahmen eines zweijährigen Projektes konnte nach einer Pilotphase das Leithagebirge, ein etwa 200 km2 großes, zusammenhängendes Waldgebiet, gescannt werden. Das resultierende Geländemodell mit 0,5 m Auflösung zeigt noch nie dagewesene Einblicke in eine historisch über mehrere Jahrtausende gewachsene Kulturlandschaft mit Fluren, Be-stattungsplätzen, Siedlungsräumen, Befestigungen, Wege-netzen und industriellen Anlagen. Somit konnte sich ALS bei der Auffindung von archäologischen Fundplätzen unter Vegetation bewähren und wird sich in naher Zukunft als archäologische Prospektionsmethode etablieren können.
Abandoned meander belts, as an example, reveal possible tectonic tilting towards the Southeast in the Southern Vienna Basin and a paleochannel migration towards the same direction. The constantly changing river channels and linked flood hazards in the floodplains has always been an important determining factor for the selection of settlement areas. Archaeological sites, for instance, are mainly located on the rim of the Würmian terraces, at the margin of the subrecent floodplain.
Summary: This paper presents a GIS-based system, that was developed and used at a project investigating settlement and funeral areas in Sudan. The 3-dimensional documentation of a pharaonic town and associated funeral area, founded and used during the New Kingdom in Nubia, required a robust and adaptable system to deal with various feature types and scales in challenging environmental settings. The system based on a Totalstation, Image-based Modelling and a Geodatabase enabled the researchers to enhance the geometric accuracy of the documentation and speed up the process to gain more field time for descriptive and interpretative tasks.
For a few years, these algorithms are embedded in several free and low-cost software packages. This paper will outline how such a program can be applied to map archaeological excavations in a very fast and uncomplicated way, using imagery shot with a standard compact digital camera (even if the images were not taken for this purpose). Archived data from previous excavations of VIAS-University of Vienna has been chosen and the derived digital surface models and orthophotos have been examined for their usefulness for archaeological applications. The absolute georeferencing of the resulting surface models was performed with the manual identification of fourteen control points. In order to express the positional accuracy of the generated 3D surface models, the NSSDA guidelines were applied. Simultaneously acquired terrestrial laser scanning data – which had been processed in our standard workflow – was used to independently check the results. The vertical accuracy of the surface models generated by SfM was found to be within 0.04 m at the 95 % confidence interval, whereas several visual assessments proved a very high horizontal positional accuracy as well.
3D-Models, GIS, Archaeothanatology, Taphonomy
Im Rahmen eines zweijährigen Projektes konnte nach einer Pilotphase das Leithagebirge, ein etwa 200 km2 großes, zusammenhängendes Waldgebiet, gescannt werden. Das resultierende Geländemodell mit 0,5 m Auflösung zeigt noch nie dagewesene Einblicke in eine historisch über mehrere Jahrtausende gewachsene Kulturlandschaft mit Fluren, Be-stattungsplätzen, Siedlungsräumen, Befestigungen, Wege-netzen und industriellen Anlagen. Somit konnte sich ALS bei der Auffindung von archäologischen Fundplätzen unter Vegetation bewähren und wird sich in naher Zukunft als archäologische Prospektionsmethode etablieren können.
Abandoned meander belts, as an example, reveal possible tectonic tilting towards the Southeast in the Southern Vienna Basin and a paleochannel migration towards the same direction. The constantly changing river channels and linked flood hazards in the floodplains has always been an important determining factor for the selection of settlement areas. Archaeological sites, for instance, are mainly located on the rim of the Würmian terraces, at the margin of the subrecent floodplain.
Summary: This paper presents a GIS-based system, that was developed and used at a project investigating settlement and funeral areas in Sudan. The 3-dimensional documentation of a pharaonic town and associated funeral area, founded and used during the New Kingdom in Nubia, required a robust and adaptable system to deal with various feature types and scales in challenging environmental settings. The system based on a Totalstation, Image-based Modelling and a Geodatabase enabled the researchers to enhance the geometric accuracy of the documentation and speed up the process to gain more field time for descriptive and interpretative tasks.
For a few years, these algorithms are embedded in several free and low-cost software packages. This paper will outline how such a program can be applied to map archaeological excavations in a very fast and uncomplicated way, using imagery shot with a standard compact digital camera (even if the images were not taken for this purpose). Archived data from previous excavations of VIAS-University of Vienna has been chosen and the derived digital surface models and orthophotos have been examined for their usefulness for archaeological applications. The absolute georeferencing of the resulting surface models was performed with the manual identification of fourteen control points. In order to express the positional accuracy of the generated 3D surface models, the NSSDA guidelines were applied. Simultaneously acquired terrestrial laser scanning data – which had been processed in our standard workflow – was used to independently check the results. The vertical accuracy of the surface models generated by SfM was found to be within 0.04 m at the 95 % confidence interval, whereas several visual assessments proved a very high horizontal positional accuracy as well.
3D-Models, GIS, Archaeothanatology, Taphonomy
The main objective of the symposium is to offer a multidisciplinary forum to discuss relevant topics and specific issues in cultural heritage protection and management and the application of digital methods for this purpose. The program shall encourage the scientific exchange and strengthen collaborative ties between participating institutions as well as increase the awareness of non-invasive methods in cultural heritage protection among stakeholders and the interested public.
Session 3: Raising Awareness for digital methods for cultural property protection and cultural heritage management
Within the framework of the project, a strategy has been adopted by the partners from 10 countries of the Danube region. The strategy approaches the topic of archaeological heritage from an archaeological, social and a technological standpoint. By using SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analyses conducted by the
working groups, major challenges in the sector were defined, leading to two main strategy units. The first unit focuses on working processes from the archaeological discovery to a virtual visualisation, and the second on the potential of archaeological heritage in the digital world. To support the
further adaptation and development of new technologies for the archaeological sector, the strategy concludes with 12 recommendations for heritage stakeholders. Priority lists are adopted for the implementation of the recommendations at national level for each participating country.