Interpolating 3d stratigraphic information from written excavation reports
Ana Predoi, Lutz Schubert, Keith Jeffery
Abstract Early excavation reports of around 1950 already employed meticulous recording techniques, yet fail to respect a lot of aspects concerning information that would help in generating relational information about a site’s organization at different times, such as recurring occupation of sites during specific seasons. The interested archaeologists either have to rely on their ability to mentally visualize the information or painstakingly map it out on paper and try to generate some layout information this way. Such information is however typically not shared further and rarely takes additional concerns such as geological constraints into consideration. In this paper we present an approach that generates a rough / indicative 3d model of the stratigraphic layout of an excavation on the basis of stratigraphic profiles (along the excavation walls) and potential planar maps (insofar as they exist). The approach can take the location of finds into consideration, given that the according data (coordinates and stratigraphic layer they were found in) is reported. We propose and discuss different approaches to align the 3d model with the profile data. Obviously, the model will fail to reproduce any irregularities that were not recorded by the excavators, but we will show how geological information can be taken into consideration to improve the regular(!) properties of the stratigraphic layout, even without further information given. The paper discusses whether such models are sufficient for archaeological discussions with a particular reference to site occupation and usage.
