The Structure A-15 Maneuver: A Novel Application of Structure from Motion Mapping at Chan Chich, Belize

Summary

The Chan Chich Archaeological Project (CCAP) has been utilizing Structure from Motion (SfM) technology to document investigations at various scales ranging from individual artifacts to landscapes for the past two field seasons at Chan Chich, Belize. SfM is an imaging analysis algorithm that creates 3D models from a series of overlapping digital photographs, and the resulting data can be exported as a digital elevation model, an orthorectified image, or a 3D model. In 2013, the CCAP successfully experimented with a methodology that combines ground based and pole aerial photography to map an entire mound. Structure A-5, however, is relatively low and grass-covered mound that is devoid of tree cover and represents ideal conditions for testing the methodology. In 2014, the project employed the same methodology on a much more challenging and prototypical case: a badly looted, 15-meter tall temple-pyramid entirely covered in large tropical trees and low undergrowth. Our goals with the Structure A-15 investigations were to produce a topographic map of the mound, map the looters' tunnels and trenches in three-dimensions, and merge both datasets into a single 3D model. In this paper we present the results of this novel application of SfM mapping at Structure A-15.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage