Survey and virtual reconstruction of ancient roman floors in an archaeological context

Abstract

Despite the consistent development of approaches aimed at the virtual reconstruction of whole houses or archaeological monuments, the variety of technologies involved in virtual reconstruction procedures and the complexity of a rigorous process to provide validation models, seems to limit a univocal and shared standards adoption. For example, compared to the large number of contributions on the virtual reconstruction of whole architectures or cultural heritage sites, only a few works have proposed a rigorous workflow specific to mosaics and ancient floors and to their virtual reconstruction. The goal of this work is to present the first results on the virtual reconstruction of the "Temple of Isis" in Marsala (Italy); in particular, the work is aimed at the virtual reconstruction of the mosaic and the opus spicatum floor still preserved in situ. A close-range photogrammetric survey was carried out in order to provide a detailed floors 3D reconstruction; a structure-from-motion photogrammetry approach was employed to obtain a detailed 2D and 3D documentation with millimetric accuracy and high level of colour fidelity. Thanks to the photogrammetric products, accurate virtual restoration/reconstruction of the whole floor surfaces was conducted in a rigorous way and as close as possible to the historical reality.