Terrestrial Scanning / Archaeology & Cultural Heritage

Cheops Pyramid and Sphinx 04.09.2007

Combined High Resolution Laser Scanning and Photogrammetrical Documentation of the Pyramids at Giza
The aim of the Scanning of the Pyramids Project 2004 was to apply latest state-of-the-art terrestrial laser scanner combined with a calibrated digital camera for high accuracy, high resolution and long distance topographic scanning in archaeology. The monuments selected for the first campaign are the Cheops Pyramid and the Sphinx. The data form the basis for a detailed three-dimensional modelling of the monuments to show and to test the instrumentation as a general-purpose tool for the documentation and monitoring of standing monuments. This has to be seen as a primary data base for the preservation of the monuments investigated by the method. The acquired data can be automatically or semi-automatically processed to generate products such as textured triangulated surfaces or orthophotos with depth information. All the tools developed for image analysis, such as edge detection or signal detection, can be used for direct extraction of 3D content from the combined image data and scan data. The collected data therefore provide a solid and large data base for any further analysis related to scientific problems of the construction, the destruction and decay of the World Heritage Monuments. The data collected are an important extension to the Giza Plateau Mapping Project, and will be made available to the scientific community.


Laser Scanning and Archaeology - Standard Tool for 3D Documentation of Excavations
Terrestrial 3D laser scanning will become the future standard tool for high-resolution 3D documentation of archaeological excavations, but its capabilities are still underestimated by professional archaeologists and providers of scanners or scanning services. The new tool forces archaeologists to consider extension of archaeological stratigraphy theory. The author shows examples of the beneficial use of laser scanning and proposes an extended theory.

GIM Article