Guido Vannini

An information system for medieval archaeology based on photogrammetry and archaeological database: the Shawbak castle project

The paper presents an interdisciplinary project which is a work in progress towards a 3D Geographical Information System (GIS) dedicated to Cultural Heritage with a specific focus application on the Castle of Shawbak, one of the best preserved rural medieval settlements in the entire Middle East). The Shawbak archaeological project is a specific and integrated project between medieval archaeological research and computer vision done thanks to a long cooperation between University of Florence and CNRS, LSIS, Marseille. Focusing mainly on stratigraphical analysis of upstanding structures we provide archaeologists with two-step pipeline. First a survey process using photogrammetry, both in a traditional way with additional annotations and using the most advanced technique to obtain dense maps and then a tool for statistical analysis. Two main applications are presented here, stratigraphy analysis with Harris matrix computed on the fly from the 3D viewer and statistical tools, clustering operation on ashlar in order to show new relationships between the measured artifacts. All these developments are written in Java within Arpenteur framework[4].

Photogrammetry for medieval archaeology: A way to represent and analyse stratigraphy

The paper presents an interdisciplinary project which is a work in progress towards a 3D Geographical Information System (GIS) dedicated to Cultural Heritage with a specific focus application on the Castle of Shawbak, also known as the “Crac de Montréal”, one of the best preserved rural medieval settlements in the entire Middle East. The Shawbak archaeological project is a specific and integrated project between medieval archaeological research and computer vision done thanks to a long cooperation between University of Florence and CNRS. Focusing mainly on stratigraphical analysis of upstanding structures we provide archaeologists a two-step pipeline. First a survey process using photogrammetry, both in a traditional way and using the most advanced technique for obtained dense map and then a tool for statistical analysis. The photogrammetric survey is driven by an archaeological knowledge which is formalized by ontologies as a link between all the archaeological concepts which are surveyed. The archaeological knowledge studied is now limited to stratigraphy of upstanding structure using a stone by stone survey as well as a 3D reprojection of archaeologist design made on photographs. The 3D GIS is the last step of this chain and aims the automatic production of 3D models through archaeological database queries: these 3D models are in fact a graphical image of the database and at the same time the interface through which the user is able to modify it and produce different kind of analyzing. All these developments are written in Java within ARPENTEUR framework.

The Contribution of “Light” Archaeology to theStudy of Fortified Sites in Northern Syria

A new archaeological project has been recently started by a joint team from the University of Florence and the University of London, entitled Islamic Syria and Latin Kingdoms: a Mediaeval frontier. Settlements and interaction in the 12th and 13th centuries A.D.1 This project aims at analysing settlements, territories and fortified systems on both sides of the frontier in the coastal plain of Syria and in the Orontes valley. In this context, the frontier acquires the significance of an “observatory” on the interaction (for example, in relation to settlement modes, control of territory, exploitation of natural sources, and exchange of technology) between west European feudal society and Islamic society in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (Figure 1).2 In the Near East, research topics such as the transformation of settlement in the period under consideration and the origin of fortifications do not seem to have been adequately developed. To date, the archaeological study of this period has mainly concerned standing