Media clarification of the results and activities in the context of the archaeological excavation at Qatna

Finished
Panoramic tour: surface with loaded VR movie and map of the excavation area. i3mainz, CC BY SA 4.0

In the course of the archaeological excavation project in Qatna, Syria, efforts were made to make the activities, results and the situation during the work on site accessible to a wide audience, so that interested persons can digitally/ to inform visually.

Motivation

During the excavation campaigns in 2009 and 2010, a large part of the uncovered architecture, such as several crypt complexes (Royal Crypt, Guft VII, Crypt I, II), a fountain and a multitude of multi-storey rooms, was recorded three-dimensionally with the help of laser scanning. The panorama photos generated during the recording were then used for a medial tour of the excavation area. Panoramas, which originate more in the private, touristic area, should also be used for this.

Activities

Similar to “Google Street View”, the different panoramic viewpoints can be approached and the respective panoramic view can be viewed interactively. By integrating appropriate links into the respective panoramic scene, a wealth of information from the excavation can be displayed. In this way, textured 3D models, 3D point clouds, stereo models, scale plans/ortho images, panoramic images and archaeological documentation data become understandable for everyone.

Results

Panorama tours are used to connect the different data in a presentation system. With high-resolution panoramas of the excavation complex and various media tools, they allow the data to be combined for presentation.

A virtual panoramic tour through the archaeological site of Qatna was created on the basis of panoramas that were generated in the laser scanner process for texturing the point cloud for each position. The data density of the excavation makes it possible to generate this 3D view with the help of a special panorama tool. Also included are panoramas of 3D reconstructions of the palace to give the public an idea of ​​the archaeological interpretation. In the near future, the panorama tour available in “Flash” will be converted to the more modern and plugin-free HTML5 technology.