DIGITAL RECORDING OF STRATIGRAPHIC EXCAVATIONS 
Michael Doneus, Institute for Prehistory, University of Vienna, Franz-Kleingasse 1, A-1190 Wien, Austria; 
Michael. Doneus@univie.ac.at 
Wolfgang Neubauer, VIAS -Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, Franz-Kleingasse 1, A-1190 Wien, Austria; 
Wolfgang.Neubauer@univie.ac.at 
Nikolaus Studnicka, RIEGL Laser Measurement Systems GmbH, Riedenburgstr. 48, A-3580 Horn, Austria; 
nstudnicka@riegl.co.at 
RELATED WORKING GROUP: WG5 - photogrammetry and archaeology 
KEY WORDS: Archaeology, GIS, Laser Scanner, Excavation, Digital Documentation 
ABSTRACT 
The single deposits with their related surfaces are 3D volumes that are destroyed and recorded in the reverse order of 
their formation during the stratigraphic excavation process. To be able to fully reconstruct the part of the site destroyed by 
excavating, the surfaces of the excavated deposits have to be fully documented in 3D (“single surface planning”). Every 
single surface is photographed using a digital camera and rectified on site. The boundary polygon, the topography and 
the location of finds are recorded using total stations. First tests were carried out applying terrestrial 3D laser scanners. 
All data is imported into a ArcView GIS, where the georeferenced data is immediately available for further on-site analysis. 
The importation of data concerning terrain modelling and contouring of the surfaces is automated by the developed 
extension ArcDig 1.1. Further modules of the extension allow to calculate cross sections along arbitrary defined lines and 
to calculate the volume of any deposit. All additional attributable data like descriptions of surfaces and deposits, the find 
database etc. are integrated in the GIS for further analysis of the data. The creation of the stratigraphic matrix is done 
using ArchEd so far without interfacing to the GIS. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Much has been written during the years on the documen 
tation of archaeological excavations, but only a small 
amount of publications can be found dedicated to the meth 
odological background of excavating. For a long time in its 
history, archaeology was considered a science dominated 
by pragmatism and adapted its methods or techniques 
from other disciplines, mainly natural sciences. 
Methodological critizism was and still is mainly based on 
the methods of interpretation but not on the processes to 
gain the primary facts or the archaeological record. 
One of the most important realizations of the last centu 
ries, that changed archaeological research, was the fact 
that any archaeological site is stratified and any archaeo 
logical stratification is unique (Harris, 1989). Stratigraphy, 
the description and interpretation of stratification is the 
main key for any further analysis of any archeological finds. 
It defines the relative sequence of events marking any 
sites unique history. This most important attribute of 
stratigraphy made it necessary to base the recording of 
archaeological excavations on the principles and needs 
of stratigraphy. The recording process which takes place 
during excavation aims at splitting the site into its 
component parts, the units of stratification. This is done 
by removing them in the reverse order to which they were 
formed. During this process, their physical, spatial, and 
stratigraphic properties are recorded, and finds and 
samples are collected. 
As GIS provides the ability to store, visualise and analyse 
graphical information in combination with descriptive in 
formation, it is a perfect general tool for the visualization 
and analysis of excavation results. With GIS, archaeolo 
gists are able to reproduce the topographical development 
of sites in an efficient manner that was almost impossible 
to carry out before the invention of GIS and computers 
(Harris, 2001). 
During the last years we tried to develop a GIS based pro 
cedure for the digital documentation of stratigraphic exca 
vations. This paper will outline the recording of stratigraphic 
excavations of the type that directly relates to stratigraphy 
and GIS, namely plans or maps and related databases. 
We will present a state of the art recording technique de 
veloped during the last 12 years under real fieldwork con 
ditions on excavations in Austria. The main objective of our 
work is a standardised digital recording of all aspects that 
are necessary for a good stratigraphic interpretation of the 
data by collecting the fundamental data for a virtual recon 
struction of the mass of unique stratification units destroyed 
by excavation. 
2. THE STRATIGRAPHIC RECORD 
The stratigraphic excavation method, as defined by E.C. 
Harris (Harris, 1989) makes it possible to record the sin 
gle units of stratification (i.e. deposits and surfaces) along 
with all its attributes and relations, and to create, a 
stratigraphic sequence or a Harris matrix from this data, 
named after its inventor. As Harris points out, every 
stratification is formed by material (deposits) and 
immaterial aspects (surfaces or interfaces) that have to be 
found and recorded by the excavating archaeologist. In the 
first instance these two aspects are the main objects to be 
recorded on a stratigraphic excavation. Any finds, samples,