Fabio Remondino
Stefano Campana
Published by
Archaeopress
Gordon House
Oxford OX2 7ED
bar@archaeopress.com
www.archaeopress.com
Oxford
OX2 7BP
www.hadrianbooks.co.uk
113
If in the 80s and 90s the term Virtual Reality was very
common and identifying a very specific, advanced and
new digital technology (Forte 2000), now it is more
appropriate to classify this domain as virtual realities
where the interaction is the core, but the modalities of
engagement, embodiment, interfaces and devices are
diverse and multitasking. According to a retrospective
view, VR could be considered a missing revolution, in
the sense that it didnt have a relevant social and
technological impact with very few outstanding results in
the last two decades. Internet for example was a big
revolution, not VR.
Nowadays an interesting example is represented by 3D
games: very sophisticated virtual environments, with a
superb graphic capacity to engage players in a continuous
participatory and co-evolving interaction, collaborative
communication and digital storytelling. They can expand
the digital territory they occupy according to participatory
interaction. The ultimate scope of a game in fact is the
creation of a digital land to explore and settle. In the
game context the role of simple users is transformed in
active players, that is the players themselves contribute
to the construction and evolution of the game. These new
trends of co-active embodiment and engagement have
radically changed the traditional definition of virtual
environment/virtual reality as a visualization space
peopled by predetermined models and actions. The game
is an open collaborative performance with specific goals,
roles, communication styles and progressive levels of
engagement. The narrative of the game can produce the
highest level of engagement, a gamification of the user
(Kapp 2012).
In addition, every model was static and without any interrelation with human activities or social behaviors. For
example, in the 90s the virtual models of Rome and
Pompei were just architectural empty spaces without any
trace of human activity (Cameron and Kenderdine 2010):
a sort of 3D temporal snapshot of the main buildings of
the city. At that time of digital reconstructions there was
scarce attention to reproduce dynamic models and to
include human life or activities in virtual worlds. Virtual
world were magnificent, realistic and empty digital
spaces.
It is interesting to point out that all these reconstructions
were made by collecting and translating archaeological
data from analogue format to digital: for example from
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116
the past cannot be reconstructed but simulated. Cyberarchaeology is aimed at the simulation of the past and not
on its reconstruction: the simulation is the core of the
process. For this it is better to think about potential past,
a co-evolving subject in the human evolution generated
by cyber-interaction between worlds (Forte 2010). In
short cyberarchaeology studies the process of simulation
of the past and its relations with the present societies. Is
this a revolutionary change in theoretical archaeology?
Perhaps a new methodological phase after processualism
and post-processualism? Is cyber archaeology a change in
methodology, a change in paradigm, or a reflection of a
broader change? (Zubrow 2010). According to Ezra
Zubrow (Zubrow 2011) both processual and post
processual are now integrated into something new. Cyber
archaeology bridges the gap between scientific and
interpretational archaeology for it provides testable in
the sense of adequacy material representations of either
interpretations
or
scientific
hypotheses
or
discoveries. (Zubrow 2010). And further: if postprocessual archaeology will continue to exist it will exist
through cyber archaeology. It is in cyberarchaeology
where the interesting issues of cognition, memory,
individual difference, education etc are actually being
researched and actually being used. (Zubrow 2011).
117
3D RECORDING
G AND MODELLING IN ARCHAEO
OLOGY AND CULTURAL
U
HERITA
AGE
Figure 3. 3D-D
Digging Projecct at atalhyk
can be co
Teleeimmersive Archaeology
A
onsidered ann
advaanced evolutioon of 3D visuualization and simulation inn
arch
haeology: not a simple visuualization tooll but a virtuall
collaaborative spacce for researcch, teaching and
a educationn
(fig. 3); a netwoork of virtual labs and mo
odels able too
t
virtuaal knowledgee. It is namedd
geneerate and to transmit
Telleimmersive because can involve the use of stereoo
cam
meras or kinectt haptic system
ms in order to represent thee
userrs as human avatars and tto visualize 3D
3 models inn
imm
mersive remotee participatorry sessions. Teleimmersive
T
e
Arch
haeology triess to integrate different dataa sources andd
prov
vide real-tim
me interactiion tools for remotee
collaaboration of geographically
g
y distributed sccholars.
I wo
ould consider Teleimmersivve a simulatio
on tool for thee
interrpretation andd communicattion of archaeological data..
The tools alloow for datta decimatio
on, analysis,,
visu
ualization, archhiving, and coontextualization of any 3D
D
dbasse in a collaborative space. This kind of activity cann
startt in the field during the exxcavation and can continuee
in laab in the phasse of post-proocessing and interpretation.
i
.
Field
dwork archaeeologists for eexample could
d discuss withh
expeerts of pottery,
p
geooarchaeologistts, physicall
anth
hropologists, conservation
c
experts, geop
physicists andd
so on: the interpreetation of an oobject, a site or
o a landscapee
is allways the ressult of a workk in team. At
A the end thee
Figuure 4. Teleimm
mersion System
m in Archaeollogy (UC Merrced, UC Berkkeley)
3D RECORDING
G AND MODELLING IN ARCHAEO
OLOGY AND CULTURAL
U
HERITA
AGE
dalone it cann
interrface and conntent (fig. 3, 6). As stand
elaborate all the models in 33D including
g GIS layers,,
metaadata and dbases (fig. 7). The digital workflow off
TeleeArch is able to integrate aall the data in
n 3D from thee
field
dwork to the collaborative
c
system with the followingg
sequ
uence:
Arrchaeological data can be recorded in 3D
3 format byy
lasser scannerss, digital phhotogrammetrry, computerr
vision, image modeling.
m
he 3D models have to be deecimated and optimized forr
Th
real time simulaations.
3D
D models havee to be exported in obj form
mat.
Th
hey are optiimized in M
Meshlab and uploaded too
TeeleArch.
Figuure 6. A Teleim
mmersive worrk session
6.1.3
3.4 3D Interaaction
TeleeArch supporrts different kinds of 3D
D interaction::
hum
man avatars (11st person intteraction), 3rd
d person andd
standalone. In 1stt person operaability the useer can interactt
like in the real world
w
within thhe space mapp
ped by stereoo
cam
meras: he/she operates
o
like a human avaatar since thee
systeem reconstruccts the body m
motion in real time (figs. 5-6). In
I this case users
u
can seee each other using naturall
interrfaces and boody languagee. In 3rd perrson the userr
interracts collaboraatively with ddata and models but withoutt
stereeo cameras. Ultimately TeleArch wo
orks also ass
standalone softw
ware, so thaat the user can interactt
indiv
vidually with models and ddata in stereo vision.
v
Figure
F
9. Clouuds of points bby time of phaase scanner
(Trimble FX) at atalhhyk: buildin
ng 77
3D RECORDING
G AND MODELLING IN ARCHAEO
OLOGY AND CULTURAL
U
HERITA
AGE
b
famouus internationaally due to thee
The site rapidly became
largee size and dennse occupationn of the settleement, as welll
as th
he spectaculaar wall paintinngs and otherr art that wass
unco
overed insidee the housess. Another distinguishing
d
g
featu
ure of atalhyk was the nature of thee houses: theyy
are complex
c
units involving riitual and the interpretationn
of activities in the same sspace. In paarticular, thee
diachronic architeectural develoopment of th
he site is stilll
very
y controversial and it needss more studiess and analysess
in reelation with thhe landscape aand the symbo
olic, ritual andd
social use of the buildings.
b
Sincce February 2009, the site is inscrribed in thee
tentaative list of UNESCO W
World Heritag
ge Sites. Thee
speccific critical conditions oof the housess (mud-brickk
dweellings, earth floors,
f
artifactts, etc.) and th
he difficultiess
to preserve
p
all thhe structures in situ urge to documentt
digittally all thee structures before they collapse orr
disap
ppear.
6.1.4
4.3 Research
h Questions
The project can open new peerspectives att the level off
meth
hodology of research in archaeology, generating a
more advanced digital
d
pipelinne from the fiieldwork to a
more holistic innterpretation process in the use off
integ
grated spatiall datasets inn three dimen
nsions. Moree
speccifically, it shhould be ablee to define a new digitall
herm
meneutics of the archaeollogical researrch and new
w
research questions. One of the key points off the project inn
fact is the miggration of 3D
D data from
m the digitall
docu
umentation inn the field to a simulation environmentt
and one day wiith an installlation in a public
p
visitorr
centter.
In fact,
f
in this case
c
the 3D ddocumentation
n of the new
w
excaavation areas could be linkked and georefferenced withh
layers and datasetts recorded inn the past, reco
onstructing att
the end
e a compleete 3D map of the site and
d of the entiree
strattigraphic conttext (figs. 12-13). In that way,
w
it will bee
posssible to redessign the relatiive chronolog
gy of the sitee
and the severall phases of settlement. In fact thee
reco
onstruction of the Neolithicc site in thoussands years off
conttinuous occuppation and usee is still very
y difficult andd
conttroversial. In addition, the 3D recontextualization off
artiffacts in the viirtual excavattion is otherw
wise importantt
for the interpretaation of diffeerent areas off any singless
housse or for studying ppossible sociial activitiess
perp
petuated withinn the site.
Figure 12. 3D
3 layers and microstratigraaphy in the telleimmersive system
s
(accuraacy < 1 mm):
midden laayers at atalhhyk. This area
a was recorrded by optical scanner (Minnolta 910)
Fig
gure 15. Buildding 77 after thhe removal off the painted
calfs head. The
T 3D recordiing by image modeling
allows too reconstruct thhe entire sequ
uence
of deccoration (by ddifferent layerss)
Figure 13. Virtual straatigraphy of thhe building 899,
atalhyk: all thee layers recordded by time
off phase laser scanner
s
(Trimbble FX)
Table 1. A comparison, based on our experience, between TOF scanner and Computer Vision methods
125
6.1.5 CONCLUSIONS
CHAMPION, E. 2011. Playing with the past. Humancomputer interaction series. London; New York,
Springer: 1 online resource (xxi, 214 p.).
127