Going with the flow - From sediment cores underwater to 3D stratigraphic models in ArcGis
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2020-11-04

There... The pile dwellings along the alpine lakes have been named UNESCO World Heritage in 2011. This honor comes with responsibilities and the sites need to be protected. In order to optimize said protection a site management workflow was put into place at the Department of Underwater archaeology and Dendrochronology city of Zürich. This workflow includes a minimal invasive method to acquire sediment core data underwater. Coded stratigraphic sedi-ment descriptions are then automatically turned into 3D Models in ArcGis. The shallow water topography is added via bathymetric measurements using small sonar systems. These models can  then  be  combined  with  data  on  water  flow  directions  and  current  velocities  in  order  to  identify areas with highest risk of erosive damage to the monuments. These information help us decide the strategy best fitted for the sites. And back again... The site management approach and new developments in technology have brought us, not only to look ahead but also lead us to rethink and adapt our data capturing. This should lead to a more refined workflow and allow for more automation in the future.


Niels Bleicher, Tim Wehrle