Digital Vacone The Upper Sabina Tiberina Project’s Transition from 2B Pencils to 3D Mesh

Abstract

Between 2016 and 2018, excavations at the Roman villa of Vacone, carried out by the Upper Sabina Tiberina Project, transitioned to completely digital recording practices. The methodological shift was accompanied by a three-year campaign of backfill removal and cleaning, which allowed most of the villa’s extant architecture and décor uncovered since 2012 to be digitized. Moreover, a new documentation protocol was established that employs photogrammetry in lieu of scale drawing to model the three-dimensional spatial characteristics of every archaeological context. Notable artifacts were also modeled to facilitate off-site study. The excavation’s experiences with this conversion offer valuable lessons for other long-term archaeological projects contemplating a similar shift amid active fieldwork. The project’s digital recording team developed a methodology for layer-by-layer modeling that ensures precise alignment between stratigraphic contexts using fixed markers. From these, standard 2D products (orthomosaic plans and digital elevation models [DEMs]) were produced. A similar technique was used for generating 2D orthomosaics of vertical features (such as walls and stratigraphic sections) without the need to take numerous measurements on the vertical surface (e.g., with a prismless total station). Similarly, the generated data can create 2D sections along any arbitrary line even after the strata have been removed. Beyond simply replicating traditional two-dimensional records, the 3D data have proven essential for visualizing the interrelation of above and below ground spaces, and for analyzing a terraced structure built on several levels. Composite 3D models, hosted online, are also an effective tool for public outreach with stakeholders in the local community, as well as the general public.