Joint research project

Photogrammetry: T echnology for the Egyptian Cultural Heritage (TECH)

Project leaders
Giuseppina Capriotti, Medhat Ahmed Abdel-khalek Ibrahim
Agreement
EGITTO - ASRT - Academy of Scientific Research and Technology
Call
CNR/ASRT 2013-2014
Department
Cultural Heritage
Thematic area
Social sciences and humanities, cultural heritage
Status of the project
New

Research proposal

In May 2012 the CNR Egyptological Mission was carried out by Giuseppina Capriotti Vittozzi and Andrea Angelini. Aim of the mission was to meet Egyptian colleagues and make experiments about photogrammetric technologies applied to the cultural heritage. In this framework, an innovative photogrammetric method was experimented on archaeological items and a meeting with some NRC colleagues was carried out.
The considerable interest aroused by the trial resulted in the willingness to undertake a joint project in the frame of  the agreement CNR - ASRT.
Photogrammetric and laser scanning systems allow to create faithful copies of the environments around us. They can be used in several applications such as architecture, engineering, archaeology and anthropology. The aim of our research group is to experiment and test above all digital photogrammetry for the items stored inside and outside the museums in Egypt. The application of this system on the archaeological field rises for research purposes and it aims at providing important information about “little objects”.
Digital photogrammetry is based on specific algorithms for automatic points recognition on a series of images that represents the same object. Through photogrammetry is possible to get and generate very dense and accurate point clouds. Each point of points clouds is composed by three coordinates (x,y,z) with the associated colorimetric value (Red, Green, Blue) taken directly on the pictures even if it should have considered less important because it is influenced by different light conditions. With the integration of other software it is possible to make a series of elaborations in order to get a better comprehension of the data. We can fit the models with other points and afterwards we can interpolate them with surfaces through some specific algorithms for TIN generation (Triangulated Irregular Network; i.e kriging algorithm). It is possible to generate also a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) directly on the points cloud evidencing the deepness of different traces associating a fictitious color scale to each point. For instance DEMs could allow understanding quickly and better possible hide epigraphic texts on the surface of artifacts underlining any incision; at the same time it gives us important information about the geometry of the incision and their layers distinguishing between intentional and casual signs.
 Molecular modeling techniques such as FTIR are a powerful technique for elucidating molecular structure of many systems and molecules. The Egyptian side is applying FTIR for studying the structure of several samples including environmental samples. The structure is further confirmed and described with molecular modeling.  The field of application could be serving in the present work to understand the structure and stability of ancient objects in order to further protect it. A correlation between different techniques from the Italian side as well as Egyptian side will be conducted.
The study of ancient objects stored in a museum is usually conducted through the autoptic examination. Such a physical contact might be invasive and it is sometimes impossible due to the difficulties to reach items. The aim of the research is to improve the method of studying artifacts through a specific protocol of measurement and acquiring digital data. The generation of 3D models would assure an accurate base model for metric analysis of the object in a virtual space. The final model will show qualitative items together with quantitative data in an accurate way. From the high resolution 3D model it is possible to carry out all the measurement about length, width and deepness and to get information about the geometry, morphology and the global visualization of the object.  The amount of different ancient items in a museum characterized by different sizes, various stone materials, different ages and patterns oblige us to define an accurate shooting schedule based on specific criteria in order to have good scientific results. For example one of the application field could be Egyptian epigraphy that involves notable difficulties of reading because of the complexity of signs and their wide range.The level of difficulty increases in relation with the kind of stone (i.e. granite) and its state of conservation. So the choice of the inscriptions could be based on the kind of stones, the signs dimension and the legibility degree. Other fields of application could be the anthropometry and the anthropology, because of their importance for the human documentation of ancient Egypt and the good results that the photogrammetry could give in this environment too.
Some parameters of shooting have been established and finalized to a specific protocol in order to have a reliable test.
 The parameters, that will be refined in future, could be referred mainly to:

Places of 3D survey;
Choice of objects;
Photogrammetric system used.

The main purpose of the experimentation is the demonstration of how the photogrammetric system can be considered an effective methodology of study and analysis of the ancient items. Furthermore, some kind of molecular interactions could be used to assist this idea accordingly we could apply molecular spectroscopy beside molecular modeling techniques in order to verify this aim.
 
 

Research goals


Experimenting several photogrammetric systems on different kinds of objects;
Testing softwares;
Exchanging ideas and results;
Collaborating in developing particular methodological procedures;
Selecting some clusters of objects (e.g. archeological items, anthropological objects etc.)
Documenting some selected groups of items by virtual objective documentation;
Metric and interpretative analysis of the objects;
Correlation with molecular modeling.

 

Last update: 29/03/2024