Multi-light photogrammetric survey applied to the complex documentation of engravings in Palaeolithic rock art: the Cova de les Meravelles (Gandia, Valencia, Spain)

Abstract

Abstract The new phase of study and revision of the Palaeolithic art of the Cova de les Meravelles, as well as the advances made in the field of 3D documentation in recent years, have motivated a new documentation campaign on the main panel full of tiny engraved motifs. The difficulties involved in acquiring and processing data executed using fine and thin engraving techniques indoors, have been solved through a multi-light photogrammetric survey, photographing the main panel surface with five lighting directions, and applying principal component analysis (PCA). This procedure has allowed us to obtain a large corpus of two and three-dimensional data and to improve the documentation base produced 17 years ago after its discovery. In this paper, we present the procedure followed, the enhanced engraving results in the new documentation campaign, its most significant contributions to the complex archaeological survey, and the limits we have found along the procedure.

Keywords

• Palaeolithic art
• Structure-from-motion (SfM)
• Photogrammetry
• Thin engravings
• Superimpositions
• 3D