M.Serena VINCI / Miquel ORELLANA / Josep Maria MACIAS
(Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona, Spain)
Abstract: The present work details the use of photographic rectification as support for graphical documentation of historical and archaeological heritage. Specifically, herein the case of the south face of the Torre del Pretorio (Praetorian Tower) of Tarragona is illustrated.
The Torre del Pretorio lies to a larger monument complex, being one of the communications towers of the Provincial Forum of Tarraco, which was the bureaucratic centre of the ancient Hispania Citerioris capital. Hence, the tower represents a valuable example of the evolution of the roman architecture within the urban development. In our intent, the accurate and precise graphical documentation of the structure aims to facilitate the restoration and the conservation of the tower, also favouring a deeper architectonical and archaeological understanding of the roman forum.
The use of photographic rectification permitted to overcome the spatial- and time-prohibitive data collection, as imposed by both size and location of the building. Indeed, the use of specific softwares eased the gaining of two-dimensional images in a straight and precise way. For this very reason, in our case, the photographic rectification supported the direct analysis of the monument and facilitates the interpretation of the architectonical stratigraphy.
Actually, aiming the understanding of both the construction processes and the architecture of the building, the documentation collected permitted different analysis: the characterization of the building modules, the identification of the working tools employed in the building materials manufacture and etc.
Concluding, the use of ortho-images represented a powerful tool that permits the systematic study of a Roman building, evolved within the centuries and surrounded by a modern urban context.
Keywords: photographic rectification; documentation; roman construction processes; restoration-conservation; urban archaeology