Integrating Close-Range Photogrammetry Methods for Outdoor Scene Documentation of Scattered Remains

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Forensic Archaeology: Research & Practice" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Documenting the context of outdoor crime scenes with decomposing bodies and skeletal remains using traditional methods can pose a challenge due to the complexities of outdoor scenes and various taphonomic processes that can modify the remains and the scene. While the use of close-range photogrammetry (CRP) methods are currently more often utilized within archaeological settings, these methods are not currently used as a standard documentation method within forensic archaeology settings. Photogrammetry is a data collection technique that utilizes a series of 2D images to generate a 3D digital resource. The application of CRP to forensic archaeological settings offers a number of documentary advantages over traditional photographic methods, including preserving the overall context of a scene, producing a 3D model, and various imagery outputs generated from the 3D model. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss the advantages of integrating CRP methods for documenting outdoor scenes with scattered remains on the ground surface. A number of simulated common forensic scenarios with human skeletons were constructed utilizing different ground surfaces. All scenarios were photographed with ground control markers and 3D models were rendered using Agisoft Photoscan Professional.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Forensic Archaeology: Research & Practice   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24592