International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XL-5/W2, 2013
XXIV International CIPA Symposium, 2 — 6 September 2013, Strasbourg, France
PHOTOGRAMMETRIC TECHNIQUES FOR 3-D UNDERWATER RECORD OF THE
ANTIQUE TIME SHIP FROM PHANAGORIA
M.O. Zhukovsky"', V.D. Kuznetsov?, S.V. Olkhovsky^
" ANO Contemporary Technologies in Archaeology and History, Moscow, Russia (mzhukovsky@mail.ru).
Institute of Archaeology RAS, Moscow, Russia (ptakkon@yandex.ru).
KEY WORDS: Fanagoria, underwater excavations, antique time ship, photogrammetry, 3-D model, orthophoto
ABSTRACT:
Phanagoria — the largest known ancient Greek settlement on the territory of Russia is situated on the Taman peninsula on the
southern side of the Taman bay. The unique feature of the site is that about 1/3 of the settlement of Phanagoria is currently flooded
by waters of the Taman bay due to the transgression of the Black sea level since antiquity. In 2012 in the course of underwater
prospection of the Taman bay a wooden ship buried under the 1.5 m thick bottom sediments was discovered in situ. The unique
feature of the ship is excellent preservation of its wooden parts, which makes it one of the few finds of this kind ever made on the
territory of Russia. This paper presents a case-study of application of photogrammetry technique for archaeological field
documentation record in course of underwater excavations of the Phanagorian shipwreck. The advantages and possible underwater-
specific constraints of automated point cloud extraction algorithm which was used in the research are discussed. The paper gives an
overview of the practical aspects of the workflow of photgrammetry technique application at the excavation ground: photo capture
procedure and measurement of control points. Finally a resulting 3-D model of the shipwreck is presented and high potential of
automated point cloud extraction algorithms for archaeological documentation record is concluded.
1. INTRODUCTION
Recent years are marked by a substantial increase in application
of photogrammetric techniques in archaeological field practice.
It becomes more and more often that photogrammetry
successfully competes more traditional (in terms of application
in archaeology) laser-scanning for true 3-D digital record of
excavated objects. This trend seems to be boosted by a
development of automated software algorithms of dense point
cloud extraction when a “blackbox” software tool is able to
produce a result comparable to one obtained through rigorous
manually controlled processing (Drap, 2012).
In the years 2011-2012 the Phanagorian archaeological
expedition has started wide implementation of photogrammetric
techniques combined with high-precision laser measurements in
the process of archaeological excavations and field
documentation record. The aim of photogrammetry application
is to provide a comprehensive 3-D record of excavated
archaeological objects at every step of field research.
Photogrammetric tools are used for creating precise 3-D
textured virtual models of any excavated object (archaeological
strata, pits, architectural remains, burials, etc.) at consecutive
stages of its disassembly as archaeological exploration is in
most cases irreversibly destructive (Zhukovsky, 2013).
This paper presents a case-study of the use of photogrammetry
for archaeological field documentation record in course of
underwater excavations of the Phanagorian shipwreck which
have been conducted in the year 2012.
2. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
2.1. The archaeological complex of Phanagoria
Phanagoria — the largest known ancient Greek settlement on the
territory of Russia is situated on the Taman peninsula on the
southern side of the Taman bay (Kuznetsov, 2011;
Tsetskhladze, 2002). Founded by the Ionian greeks from Teos
(Asia Minor) in 540-s B.C. the settlement was continuously
717
inhabited till XI A.D. In the classical period Phanagoria is
considered to have been the capital of so-called Asian, or
Cimmerian, Bosporus. The city had flourished till the very end
of the first century B.C. when the wars of Mithridates VI
against Rome exhausted the Kingdom of Pontus. During the
first millennium A.D. the territory of Phanagoria shrinks but it
still remains one of the major settlements of the region as a part
of Byzantine empire and later — Bulgar and Khazarian state.
Last khazarian inhabitants have abandoned Phanagoria at the
beginning of the XI-th century A.D.
The contemporary archaeological complex of Phanagoria
consists of the fortified multilayer settlement — acropolis,
surrounded by vast necropolis, both covering an area of about
860 hectares. The unique feature of the site is that about 1/3 of
the settlement of Phanagoria in its widest extent dating from the
classical period is currently flooded by waters of the Taman bay
due to the transgression of the Black sea level since antiquity.
Archaeological survey shows that the shift of the shore line
have not been abrupt, finds from undisturbed cultural layers
currently covered by water display a continuous slow movement
of the ancient sea edge towards contemporary shore
(Tsetskhladze, Brandon, 2002).
According to a recent research, combining multispectral satellite
imagery analysis, bathymetry data from hydrographic echo
sounder and profiler and mapping of underwater archaeological
finds, the ancient shore line in its 6-5 centuries B.C. state lies at
a distance of 240-260 m from current sea edge.
2.2. The Phanagorian shipwreck
In 2012 in the course of underwater prospection of the Taman
bay a wooden ship buried under the 1.5 m thick bottom
sediments was discovered in situ (Kuznetsov, Olkhovskiy,
2013; Olkhovskiy, 2012). The find was made at a distance of
135 m from the present-day shore of the Taman bay at a depth
of 0,9-1,0 m within the flooded part of the territory of the
settlement of Phanagoria (fig. 1). The location of the find makes
the ship one of the important keystones in reconstruction of the
temporal change of the shore line during the existence of the
site. Another unique feature of the ship is excellent preservation
