Close-range imagery for reconstructing archaeological findings

Geometrical and thematic data are required by database created for several user applications. This is particularly true not only in archaeology but also in other disciplines such as anthropology, biometry, forensic science, medicine and industry where the physical shape, the surface models, the volume, the texture of objects, at different scales, must be determined for different purposes. In the archaeological and anthropological sciences, in particular, photogrammetry offers some advantages in the analyses and investigations due to non-contact measurements, high accuracy of their values, possibility of precise photorealistic texture mapping. Photorealistic three-dimensional models of archaeological and anthropological objects and findings can be easily shared and used for public virtual reality and/or for studies in morphometry. Among the mentioned aspects, accuracy and feasibility of the measuring methods are highly relevant; for this reasons the paper presents an approach based on digital photogrammetry providing technological and methodological developments in anthropology and archeology. Objects and human findings unearthed from the ruins of a medieval church in Aquino have been reconstructed through elaboration of close-range photogrammetric imagery. The measurements of 2D and 3D models have been compared with micro-mechanical measurements carried out in a specialized laboratory by using micro-meters and centesimal analogical calipers. This approach offers the possibility of developments and applications also in the field of the biomedic research thanks to the innovative technology of 3D printing.