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Title
New perspectives to save cultural heritage
Author
Altan, M. Orhan

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,