Digital Methods for Conservation in Underground Archaeological Contexts: A Case Study from the Copan Acropolis

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

As site documentation methods become more high-tech and data-heavy, it raises issues of repeatability, access, and expense. In the case of the 3 kilometers of circuitous archaeological tunnels at the Classic Maya site of Copan, Honduras, it was imperative to document them in a manner that would be accurate, efficient, and accessible not only to scholars with expensive resources, but also to technicians and engineers within Honduras. This multidisciplinary team developed a method of three dimensional documentation using a total station that was easily teachable and replicable, allowing for continuity between mapping teams, as this tunnel system was too massive for any one group to complete. The resulting models are less expensive and data-heavy than 3D scans or point clouds, and were adapted specifically for tunnel environments with the overarching goal of informing the creation of a conservation plan for the Copan tunnel network. The color-coding of various kinds of archaeological features visible in the maps, and different kinds of interventions effected on them, enables their utility for conservation to be enhanced. New data can be continuously added to enable conservators as well as site managers an easier means of ascertaining risk and stability in the tunnel system.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22951