APPLICATIONS OF MACRO PHOTOGRAMMETRY IN ARCHAEOLOGY

Abstract

Many valuable archaeological artefacts have the size of a few centimetres or less. The production of relevant documentation of such artefacts is mainly limited to subjective interpretation and manual drawing techniques using a magnifier. Most of the laser scanners available for the archaeological purposes cannot reach sufficient space resolution to gather all relevant features of the artefact, such as the shape, the relief, the texture and any damage present. Digital photogrammetric techniques make measuring with high accuracy possible and such techniques can be used to produce the relevant archaeometric documentation with a high level of detail. The approaches for shooting a good macro photograph (in the photogrammetric sense) will be explored and discussed as well as the design of a calibration test-field and the self-calibration methods suitable for macro photogrammetry. Finally, the method will be tested by producing a photorealistic 3D-model of an ancient figurine.