Modelling Antiquity. Surveying the Private Areas of the Episcopal Palace, Side. Turkey

Abstract

The use of digital techniques is often applied today by archaeologists in the field to get quick and reliable 3D surveys for their research. 3D models and reconstructions are the focus for the use of these techniques. The aim of this paper is to present the methodology employed during the 2018 season, and its combination with that from 2016 on the private areas of the bishop's residence of the Episcopal Palace in the ancient city of Side, Turkey. This paper will focus on the data acquisition process, accuracy of the survey, errors and solutions as well as the workflow-process of the data. The aim is to present a useful workflow to combine surveys at a maximum level of accuracy with already completed surveys. A Total Station (TS) survey, Global Positioning System (GPS) Real Time Kinetics (RTK) survey and Structure from Motion (SfM) are among the techniques used to compile the information later exported into a Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. Eventually, viable applications of the data created with such methods that help to formulate a new hypothesis for the ritual and non-ritual areas will be shown: plans, 3D models, digital elevation models (DEM) and orthophotos.