Summary of Work

Introduction

For as long as institutions and individuals have been collecting and storing prehistoric and historic materials they have struggled to find and implement a good, usable, reliable, and transferable method for archiving and utilizing their collections for research.

Objective

This research project looked at the feasibility of utilizing photogrammetric techniques and software systems in order to gather metric data from stereo pairs of standard 35mm photographs.

Some Potential Areas of Application

NAGPRA Requirements
Analysis can be done even after the artifacts are no longer available.
Field Work Abroad
Useful when the artifacts cannot be transported to the lab for analysis and analysis in the field is not possible.
Collection Comparison
Artifact collections can be accurately compared without the need for travel to the collections or the shipping of valuable artifacts.
Teaching Tool
Digital stereo images offer a realistic mean to view a wide variety of artifacts.

Concepts

Our Method Step by Step

The objects are placed in a 3-D control field	Stereo photographs are taken

1	2
4	3

Three-dimensional information is extracted	The photos are scanned and processed photogrammetrically

Results

Conclusion

The method and results shown above are believed to be adequate for many archaeological purposes when dealing with artifacts or bones. This method allows one to archive high resolution color images with the ability to collect accurate 3-D metric data from those images. With the rapid reduction in hardware and software cost and the increase in power and storage capabilities, we suggest that this method is one way of dealing with the pressing needs of collection, recordation, and utilization.

To contact us: email www

Web Document: http://web.cast.uark.edu/cast/projects/arch/photogram/Summary.html
Last updated: July, 15 1997
Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, Fayetteville, AR 72701