The Blera Archaeological Project

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Back to the field!

Last week our collaborative team of researchers from ISVROMA, Lund University (DARKLab & Humanities Lab), CNR-ISPC and Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa went back to the Petrolo plateu in Blera to carry on some prospections with GPR (georadar) and 3D data acquisition by using image-based modelling techniques.

A selection of land parcels was chosen to perform GPR prospections in order to detect possible ground anomalies to be eventually interpreted as archaeological features.

portion of the land parcels identified for this season’s geophysical prospections.

Despite part of the data processing was started already during the time of the field campaign, we do not have the results of the data interpretations available yet. Nonetheless, according to our colleagues responsible for the GPR data acquisition, the prospections went pretty well and they expect to obtain very interesting material in support to the archaeological interpretation.

Dr. Melda Küçükdemirci performing data acquisition with a GPR in one of the selected survey areas.
Part of the equipment employed to process the data collected in the field.

As a part of this year fieldwork, a public presentation of the project was held in the town of Blera on Tuesday October 1st. Interestingly, a significant number of people came to attend the event and get to know what is currently going on in their home town and interact with all the team members.

public presentation of the project held in the town of Blera.

6 October 2024

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Preparing for fieldwork 2024!

On Monday 3 June we went to the Petrolo plateau to make a field inspection and see which areas will be investigated during the upcoming field campaign. Dr. Salvatore Piro from the Italian Research Council (CNR-ISPC) joined us and gave us advice on the suitability of the different geophysical techniques that can be applied in this context. Drawing upon last year experience, a combination of magnetometer and georadar sensing techniques will be deployed to detect any ground anomaly that can be possibly interpreted as an archaeological feature.

4 June 2024

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GPR slice extrusion in 3D GIS

GPR-derived raster slices show us the presence of ground anomalies that can be interpreted as archaeological features. Each slice represents the distribution of GPR signal intensity in a given x,y area at a given z depth under the ground surface where the acquisition has been performed. By overlapping the different slices it is therefore possible to have a three-dimensional representation of the ground anomaly detected by the instrument. In GIS, each slice can be digitized in order to show the boundaries of what has been interpreted as part of the ground anomaly. Such digitization process allow us to obtain a polygon representation of the archaeological features detected by the GPR at the different sampling intervals. All these polygon can eventually be extruded to a height corresponding to the sampling interval represented by the raster slice they refer to. As a result, we obtain a 3D model of the volume that is the sum of all the ground anomalies detected and reported by the single raster slices.

2 April 2024

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LiDAR data acquisition!

During the last weekend, between Friday 15 and Sunday 17 March our project partners from the Italian National Research Council (ISPC – CNR) carried out a data acquisition with a LiDAR sensor-equipped drone to 3D scan the land surface of the Petrolo plateau. The advantage of using drone-based LiDAR is the possibility of penetrating tree canopy and obtaining a much clearer representation of surfaces in the woodland areas. In addition, having the LiDAR attached to a drone allows us to have a very high-resolution representation of the terrain increasing the chances to detect ground anomalies to be eventually identified as archaeological features.

The DJI Zenmuse L1 drone employed to perform the acquisition over the Petrolo plateau.

the drone is set up to automatically fly over the plateau following a trajectory enabling the full coverage of the study area.

18 March 2024

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