Donald HORNE
(Cambridge Archaeological Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom)

Keywords: Bronze Age, Workflow, SfM, 3D, Photogrammetry

Abstract:
The discovery of at least five Bronze Age structures and their contents at an almost forensic level of preservation has made Must Farm one of the most exciting excavations of 2015/16. To achieve this excavation, both the budget and time-frame had to be viable to our partners of Forterra and Historic England. It is these constraints that led to the development of an integrated workflow utilising Surface from Motion (SfM) as the primary recording methodology.
Too often on working excavations, 3-D technologies are used only as an additional methodology to capture the most aesthetically exciting items and do not feedback into the analytical recording process of the site. This paper will explore how the workflow system employed at Must Farm which has allowed the integration of 3D technologies into the onsite recording. In addition to this how the 3D models have had the an extra value employed both with regards to public dissemination but also analytical use by other archaeologists; how this methodology has coped with the complexity of data as discovered and how it copes as our interpretations change and grow; where the workflow can be improved and whether it is possible, or even useful, to employ such technologies and workflows on more mainstream sites.

Relevance conference | Relevance session:
The recording methodology created for Must Farm attempts to integrate the digital and analogue record allowing a much more accessible and integrated achieve overall.

Innovation:
The use of Surface from Motion within the recording methodology of Must Farm is one of the first commercial sites to rely on this technology and workflow.

References:
Verhoeven, G. J. J. (2009): Providing an archaeological bird’s-eye view – an overall picture of ground-based means to execute low-altitude aerial photography (LAAP) in Archaeology. Archaeol. Prospect., 16: 233–249.
De Reua, J. et al (2013): Towards a three-dimensional cost-effective registration of the archaeological heritage. Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 40: 1108-1121