Stratigraphic archaeological excavations demand high-resolution documentation techniques for 3D recording. Today, this is typically accomplished using total stations or terrestrial laser scanners. This paper demonstrates the potential of another technique that is low-cost and easy to execute. It takes advantage of software using Structure from Motion (SfM) algorithms, which are known for their ability to reconstruct camera pose and threedimensional scene geometry (rendered as a sparse point cloud) from a series of overlapping photographs captured by a camera moving around the scene. When complemented by stereo matching algorithms, detailed 3D surface models can be built from such relatively oriented photo collections in a fully automated way. The absolute orientation of the model can be derived by the manual measurement of control points. The approach is extremely flexible and appropriate to deal with a wide variety of imagery, because this computer vision approach can also work with imagery resulting from a randomly moving camera (i.e. uncontrolled conditions) and calibrated optics are not a prerequisite. For a few years, these algorithms are embedded in several free and low-cost software packages. This paper will outline how such a program can be applied to map archaeological excavations in a very fast and uncomplicated way, using imagery shot with a standard compact digital camera (even if the ima ges were not taken for this purpose). Archived data from previous excavations of VIAS-University of Vienna has been chosen and the derived digital surface models and orthophotos have been examined for their usefulness for archaeological applications. The a bsolute georeferencing of the resulting surface models was performed with the manual identification of fourteen control points. In order to express the positional accuracy of the generated 3D surface models, the NSSDA guidelines were applied. Simultaneously acquired terrestrial laser scanning data – which had been processed in our standard workflow – was used to independently check the results. The vertical accuracy of the surface models generated by SfM was found to be within 0.04 m at the 95 % confidence interval, whereas several visual assessments proved a very high horizontal positional accuracy as well.

The main purpose of any aerial photo archive is to allow quick access to images based on content and location. Therefore, next to a description of technical parameters and depicted content, georeferencing of every image is of vital importance. This can be done either by identifying the main photographed object (georeferencing of the image content) or by mapping the center point and/or the outline of the image footprint. The paper proposes a new image archiving workflow. The new pipeline is based on the parameters that are logged by a commercial, but cost-effective GNSS/IMU solution and processed with in-house-developed software. Together, these components allow one to automatically geolocate and rectify the (oblique) aerial images (by a simple planar rectification using the exterior orientation parameters) and to retrieve their footprints with reasonable accuracy, which is automatically stored as a vector file. The data of three test flights were used to determine the accuracy of the device, which turned out to be better than 1° for roll and pitch (mean between 0.0 and 0.21 with a standard deviation of 0.17–0.46) and better than 2.5° for yaw angles (mean between 0.0 and −0.14 with a standard deviation of 0.58–0.94). This turned out to be sufficient to enable a fast and almost automatic GIS-based archiving of all of the imagery.

The bronze doors of the Basilica of San Zeno in Verona, Italy, are a special case in art history research. They were made by several workshops during the twelfth century: stylistically, two to three workshops were assumed to produce the metal parts of the door. However, it is still unclear when exactly and if this interpretation can be supported by the chemical composition of the metal. In this research we aimed to verify the art history interpretation by identifying the alloy composition of each individual metal plate. The composition of the supporting wooden structures are discussed. A portable ED-XRF instrument and optical microscopes were used to analyse and document the doors non-invasively. The doors were also photographed to produce high resolution orthophotos and 3D models. We can confirm that the metal parts of the doors were made of leaded tin-bronze as well as leaded brass and mounted on a wooden structure mainly made of spruce and oak wood. Chemically, two/three different groups of alloys have been identified, which can be associated with two or three different workshops, and which largely correspond to the stylistic interpretation.

The introduction of airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology in the Mediterranean region over the past decade has significantly increased opportunities for archaeological research. Archaeological remote sensing has proven to be a versatile tool with numerous applications beyond simple site mapping. One approach is the large-scale interpretation of ALS data, which allows for the analysis of the stratigraphic information contained within the data. This is particularly useful for analysing the rich remains of past land use in the karst landscapes of coastal Croatia. The Roman dry stone walls of the Kvarner islands of Krk and Cres serve as an example. These structures outline the framework backbone of Roman surveying; however, due to their poor state of preservation, many remains can only be identified through ALS data rather than aerial photography. An absolute chronology for these features was established using the OSL profiling and dating method (OSL-PD), providing a date range of AD 200 ± 100. These results can be considered the first clear evidence of surveying municipal lands on the Croatian islands.

The Italian 12th-century copper alloy doors of Barisanus have long been the subject of art historical studies and have recently been fully documented photogrammetrically and archaeometrically. In addition, digital twins of the three Barisanus doors in Ravello, Trani and Monreale have been produced and made available in open access for further research. These digital twins, together with the orthophotos produced, allow precise and repeatable measurements of the different metal parts of the doors, such as panels and frieze elements. This, and by taking into account the solid shrinkage of metals during the casting process, allowed for the reconstruction of the production sequence for each of the 20 single motif panels present on all three doors, and, finally, also for the establishment of the production sequence of the three doors as a whole—heavily discussed in art history research—with rather astonishing results. Moreover, bronze casting techniques used and the use of moulds and models are discussed, painting a more detailed picture that goes beyond the often purported dichotomy of lost wax vs. sand casting.