Historical records, archives and photogrammetry

Archaeological heritage is part of a global identity; the need to preserve this heritage is important, not only to the local communities in which it is present but also to national and international communities. In recent years, digital recordings of monuments and buildings have provided significant contributions in the preservation, presentation and dissemination of cultural heritage. Digital recording of cultural heritage is a multidimensional and complex process: not only does it require researchers to address the problem of 3D digitisation of the monuments but also other aspects of handling this new digital content, such as management, representation and reproduction. Various techniques have been proposed and different technologies have been developed: some based on laser scanning, others on photogrammetric techniques, some using simple empirical methodologies and others based on imaging techniques. However, these techniques focus on cultural heritage assets which are still in existence. For lost, destroyed or damaged heritage, all that remains in a visual context are archived images. We investigate the use of photogrammetry on archived images, to attempt to create 3D reconstructions of lost heritage assets.