Optical 3D Measurement Techniques in Archaeology: Recent Developments and Applications

This paper is intended to give an overview on current surveying techniques that use remotely sensed data, and their applications in archaeology. The focus is on optical 3D measurement techniques based on image and range sensors. Data and methods are briefly reviewed, whereas data processing and related problems are only touched in passing. For the purpose of this review we distinguish three scales of archaeological research at which the surveying techniques discussed here can be applied: (1) the regional scale, to record the topography of archaeological landscapes and to detect and map archaeological features, (2) the local scale, to record smaller sites and their architecture and excavated features, and (3) the object scale, to record artefacts and excavated finds.