The tell-tale sign of an oval depression in the platform of Building 52 was a clear indication that there was a burial beneath the floor. Osteoarchaeologist Scott Haddow, from the Cranfield Forensic Institute in the UK, was taking up where he had left off after the previous 2012 season at Çatalhöyük, near Konya in Turkey. However, before lifting a trowel, he generated a pre-excavation three-dimensional model of the northern platform of the building. This was because, this year, Scott was taking part in a pioneering programme that promises to revolutionise the way excavations are recorded in the future.
A new methodology, developed by Maurizio Forte of Duke University, USA, and Nicolò Dell’Unto of Lund University, Sweden, records 3D images on site, so that each stage of the excavation process is documented as the work progresses, and can be reviewed immediately using 3D models. At the end of each day, therefore, everyone from all disciplines involved in the excavation can visit the virtual dig, as if standing on site as the work took place. This allows the archaeologists to re-examine the evidence as it appeared, pooling their expertise.
Moreover, unlike 3D laser scanning, which requires expensive specialised equipment to produce high-quality models, the method the team is employing here requires no more than a point-and-shoot camera and a couple of pieces of software. This, therefore, is a system that falls within the budgets of most excavations, opening up exciting possibilities for other projects around the world.
An archaeology of thought