The Application of SfM Photogrammetry Software for Extracting Artifact Provenience from Palaeolithic Excavation Surfaces

ABSTRACT

While photogrammetry has become popular in archaeology and heritage management as an effective, low-cost method for generating detailed three-dimensional models, it remains to be established that the accuracy of model-derived measurements is sufficient for analytical purposes. Based on an expedient, in-field model processing protocol, we report preliminary results concerning the accuracy of artifact provenience information derived from photogrammetry models of excavation surfaces at the Upper Palaeolithic site of Shuidonggou Locality 2 in China. Error in model-derived provenience can range easily into the centimeter scale; accuracy in some spatial axes are significantly, but weakly, affected by the size of the sampled surface. While the observed error range is larger than thresholds proposed for Palaeolithic excavations, it is arguably acceptable in settings where the analytical demand for provenience precision is lower. We identify possible sources of error and discuss how model accuracy can be improved by additional systematic testing.

KEYWORDS:

• Photogrammetry
• structure from motion
• artifact provenience
• model accuracy
• Palaeolithic excavation

Acknowledgements

Research funding was provided by Key Research Project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZZD-EW-15), Special Funds for Fossil Excavation and Preparation of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Special Funds for Archaeological Excavation of State Administration of Culture Heritage to Xing Gao. Travel funds for Sam Lin were provided by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. We thank Zhenyu Zhou for fruitful discussions on the research subject, and all participants in the 2015 excavation season of Shuidonggou Locality 2. Matthew Douglass commented on earlier drafts and helped improve the clarity of the paper.

Notes on contributors

Fei Peng (Ph.D. 2012, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) is an assistant researcher in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research focuses on the Upper Palaeolithic of East Asia and lithic technology.

Sam C. Lin (Ph.D. 2014, University of Pennsylvania) is a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany, and a Research Fellow in the Centre for Archaeological Science at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His research focuses on the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic of western Europe and China, the Middle Stone Age of South Africa, lithic technology, and assemblage formation.

Jialong Guo (M.A. 2012, University of Shanxi) is an assistant researcher in the Institute of Culture Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. He is primarily interested in the prehistoric archaeology of the Ningxia region of China.

Huimin Wang is a retired researcher in the Institute of Culture Relics and Archaeology of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China. He has worked extensively on the prehistoric and historic archaeology of the Ningxia region of China.

Xing Gao (Ph.D. 1999, University of Arizona) is Professor in the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. His research focuses on the Palaeolithic archaeology and human evolution of East Asia and China.

ORCID

Sam C. Lin http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6834-2646