Laura SORO1 / Alessandro USAI2
(1University of Vienna, Institut for Prehistory and Early History, Austria / 2Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per le province di Cagliari e Oristano, Cagliari – Sardinia, Italy)
Between May and June 2007, an archaeological excavation was carried out by the ‘Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici per le Province di Cagliari e Oristano’ (Agency for the Archaeological Heritage – Cagliari and Oristano Provinces) in the Late Neolithic site of Gribaia at Nurachi (Oristano). The archaeological excavation has taken a period of 20 days and brought into focus a new situation about the Sardinian Neolithic. In Italy the archaeological field excavations are often accused to produce a poor documentation and to pay little attention to the stratigraphic method, because they are carried out in a short time and with few resources.
The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how it could be possible otherwise. We want to expose an applied solution to create the graphic documentation of the archaeological excavation. This solution is a photogrammetrical approach, applied with the help of photos taken by a kite: a tool for tight deadlines and a lack of resources. The new attempt made it possible to collect the information into a GIS platform, through the processing of photos after the end of the excavation. Since necessity is mother of invention, we want to expose how it has been possible to collect and revise the graphics documentation of a stratigraphical excavation after its end.
With this example, we want to provide a possible idea (very cheap and very effective) of action on the ground, which has sought to combine the protection of archaeological heritage with computer experiments.
Keywords: Photogrammetry, GIS, Tyke solution, archaeological conservation, Sardinia’s archaeological Heritage.