The potential of multidimensional visualization in stratigraphic analysis
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 04/12/2019

Volumetric and 3D modelling analysis are quite popular techniques in archaeology, usually focusing on the reconstruction of artefacts and landscapes. In this paper, we discuss how they can be used to reconstruct the stratigraphy of the Neolithic lacustrine settlement of La Draga (Banyoles lake, NE Iberian peninsula). The site has a terrestrial and an underwater part, both with different sedimentation processes. The resulting stratigraphies are then hardly comparable when using traditional bidimensional graphical approaches (Wheeler stratigraphic diagram) or Harris matrix methods, lacking metrics and temporal information. In this paper, we present a volumetric global metric model of the stratigraphy, which has allowed to distinguish the different formation processes. An algorithm for volumetric interpolation is used to create a 3D representation of different layers and other stratigraphic and depositional units, based on x, y, z coordinates of the different stratigraphic interphases identified during excavation, and additional geological and archaeological information. Multidimensional visualization techniques are then use to overlay the geological and archaeological information to such a 3D model. The resulting visual model can be used to analyze the formation process of the archaeological record and the effects of the different sedimentary processes. We think that this procedure is not restricted to the present case study, and can be easily applicable to different archaeological excavations. Therefore, the paper makes emphasis on the nature of data necessary for this visualization, and on the algorithm for the volumetric interpolation of micro-topographic data.

(Vasiliki Andreaki, Juan Antonio Barceló Álvarez)