Auckland Castle excavation 2021 (Bishop Auckland, County Durham)
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Animation with top-down view of the the main trench, showing some of the progress that was made during the final week of the excavation. |
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Object discovered at Auckland Castle during the excavation in 2021.The top side has decorations engraved into it.
Object discovered at Auckland Castle during the excavation in 2021. Part of a musical instrument, presumably used to tune the strings.
3D models of the two trenches. From left to right: isometric top-down view (orthomosaic) of the main trench, untextured 3D model of the second trench (showing the mesh/geometry), isometric top-down view of the second trench.
Both trenches were repeatedly 3D scanned, at least once a week, using a drone in combination with photogrammetry. These 3D models were then used to create a 'perfect' top-down view in which the distortions caused by the perspective of the photographs were removed. This allows archaeologists to take accurate measurements from the orthomosaics. The 3D models also provide time-slices of the excavation, which allows researchers to "re-excavate" the trench digitally, even after the trench has been closed.
Both trenches were repeatedly 3D scanned, at least once a week, using a drone in combination with photogrammetry. These 3D models were then used to create a 'perfect' top-down view in which the distortions caused by the perspective of the photographs were removed. This allows archaeologists to take accurate measurements from the orthomosaics. The 3D models also provide time-slices of the excavation, which allows researchers to "re-excavate" the trench digitally, even after the trench has been closed.
Photographer and drone pilot: Alexander C.Q. Jansen
Plover Hall survey 2021 (Greta Valley, County Durham)
3D model (left) and orthomosaic (right) of several fields in the Greta Valley, County Durham. Bronze Age objects have been discovered at this site, and currently an excavation with volunteers from Altogether Archaeology is taking place here. The blue squares in the image on the left show the positions of the photo camera (which was attached to a drone).
The 3D model (mesh/geometry is shown in shaded purple on the left) was used to create a detailed "Digital Elevation Model", or height map, of the area. This allows researches to detect even small height changes in the landscape, some of which may indicate prehistoric (Bronze Age) human activity. The lowest part of the model, coloured blue, is a small river (for the most part, the river is located just outside of the model).
Lindisfarne: Holy Island Archaeology Project
Lindisfarne by DigVentures on Sketchfab
Dr David Petts is carrying out fieldwork on the Holy Island on the site of the early medieval monastery of Lindisfarne with DigVentures, funded through crowdfunding and a series of other grants including one from National Geographic. In this Sketchfab collection you will be able to explore brilliant 3D models of excavation tranches and special finds!
Unpicking Archbishop John Morton’s ‘cope’ (c.1480-1500)
The Yarm helmet (North Yorkshire)
Forensic Archaeology: learning with digital collections
This annotated 3D model of a skull is part of a digital collection of 3D models of skeletal remains that the team of Prof. Becky Gowland created for teaching the Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology course at FutureLearn.
Intriguing artefacts from Nevern Castle (Southwest Wales)
Heritage protection: our work in Libya
3D model of the Theatre of Sabratha, Zawiya District, Libya, created by a team led by Prof. Anna Leone within the framework of the project "Heritage within the Crossfire".
A new book investigating the Roman invasion of Britain
Reconstruction of the Arch of Claudius at Rome by Christina Unwin. The Arch was finished in around 51-2 AD/CE to celebrate the initial conquests in southern Britain that resulted for the invasion of 43 AD/CE. The inscription, which survives in part, recorded the surrender of a number of British kings to Claudius at Camuluodunum (Colchester) and that the emperor had conquered lands beyond the Ocean. The reconstruction forms one of the images that supplements a book that is currently in press: Richard Hingley, Conquering the Ocean: The Roman Invasion of Britain (Oxford University Press, New York).
Exploring the Imperial port at Portus (Italy)
This map represents a fuzzy viewshed from a location along the Via Portuensis, the road that connected Rome and the Imperial port at Portus (Fiumicino airport, Italy). Fuzzy viewsheds are useful tools that permit to define how clearly features and sites (such as those represented in the map, dated in the 2nd century AD) could be seen in past landscapes that have been digitally reconstructed. This image also shows the physical geography of this area in the Tiber Valley, which has changed dramatically since Antiquity; for example, the coastline has advanced more than 2 km since Roman times, meaning that the ancient maritime port at Portus is now completely silted up!
Good memories from our fieldwork in Portugal in 2019
Since 2016, Dr Marta Diaz-Guardamino has been conducting research on monumentality among late prehistoric (3rd-2nd millennia BC) communities in Northwest Iberia. Here you can see some pics of our brilliant fieldwork team in September 2019. We finished excavating a puzzling "pit", conducted some post-excavation work, and got to know the local domestic megafauna :-) The site featured here is located in a beautiful rural landscape, between two small villages with abundant granite architecture typical of the region (Montalegre, North Portugal).
Intriguing late prehistoric decorated slabs: a digital collection
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Here you can explore some 3D models of a series of decorated slabs that are found across the landscapes of western and southern Iberia. Their meaning and functionality are hotly debated. Recen research led by Dr Marta Diaz-Guardamino indicates that they could be used either as gravestones, memorials and/or as boundary markers. The elements carved on these slabs indicate that their makers were local communities that were globally connected. |