Underwater 3D Imaging with Structured Light: Implications for Ethics and Economics

Summary

A prototype underwater 3D imaging technology is discussed that is both inexpensive and creates accurate, high resolution 3D data. We focus on the connection between this technology and archaeological ethics and economics. First, we discuss a cutting edge, low cost, highly portable and user-friendly 3D imaging system using structured light, which has generated very high resolution images in both terrestrial and underwater contexts. Next, we compare it to other low-cost 3D techniques. Finally, we discuss the ethical and economic implications of this technology. As a zero-impact data gathering technique, and with low cost, low tech components making up the actual scanner, this technology could greatly expand the contexts in which zero-impact studies are plausible, following ethical guidelines in the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. In terms of economics, the low cost makes it widely available, decreasing the inequity in access to advanced archaeological tools.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Digital Age: Advances to Underwater Archaeological Survey Techniques   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2015

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 17