SevSU will offer digital standards for conducting archaeological excavations in Sevastopol

Usually objects for digitization are monuments that are in a static state: statues, buildings, a site of an ancient settlement. The main difference of the SevGU project is that all the layers of the cultural layer, which are revealed during the excavations, were gradually digitized, that is, the soil that was formed over the centuries of the city’s existence and which stores objects of material culture: the remains of buildings, household items, and more. Modern software makes it possible to examine any of the layers, to assemble or separate them, to study them separately and in interconnection, to examine each of the objects at the place of discovery. Thus, a high-precision three-dimensional model created by scientists makes it possible to trace the entire excavation process. It gives a more accurate and complete picture of what was discovered during the research, up to the color of the soil in the layers of different eras, than standard formats.

Such a digital model of stratigraphy — all the studied layers of the earth — is extremely important, because archaeologists, studying the cultural layer, actually destroy what has been «preserved» for hundreds, and often thousands of years. This means that it is necessary to fix everything that is revealed during excavations as accurately as possible. Digital stratigraphy opens up new opportunities in order to transfer the results of our work to colleagues from the future, because still the main way of visual fixation is photographs, drawings, plans, occasionally archaeologists create three-dimensional models of individual objects or objects , — quotes press service of the SevGU Director of the Scientific and Educational Center «Archaeological Research» of the Sevastopol State University Viktor Vakhoneev.

He added that the digital excavation project at the site of Acre was the first of such projects.

We plan to apply our experience in the course of the largest excavations in the country, which are currently being carried out on the territory of the southern suburb of Tauric Chersonesos. Such models open up to the scientific community what the stratigraphy of a particular archaeological site looks like, how the formation of an archaeological site as a whole takes place. It would also be useful to use them in teaching archeology students , — the scientist notes.

Usually objects for digitization are monuments that are in a static state: statues, buildings, a site of an ancient settlement. The main difference of the SevGU project is that all the layers of the cultural layer, which are revealed during the excavation, were gradually digitized, that is, the soil that was formed over the centuries of the existence of the city and which stores objects of material culture: the remains of buildings, household items, and more.

Modern software makes it possible to examine any of the layers, to assemble or separate them, to study them separately and in interconnection, to examine each of the objects at the place of discovery. Thus, a high-precision three-dimensional model created by scientists makes it possible to trace the entire excavation process. It gives a more accurate and complete picture of what was discovered during the research, up to the color of the soil in the layers of different eras, than standard formats.

Such a digital model of stratigraphy — all the studied layers of the earth — is extremely important, because archaeologists, studying the cultural layer, actually destroy what has been «preserved» for hundreds, and often thousands of years. This means that it is necessary to fix everything that is revealed during excavations as accurately as possible. Digital stratigraphy opens up new opportunities for transferring the results of our work to colleagues from the future, because photographs, drawings, plans are still the main way of visual fixation, occasionally archaeologists create three-dimensional models of individual objects or objects , — says Victor Vakhoneev.

He added that the digital excavation project at the site of Acre was the first of such projects.

We plan to apply our experience in the course of the largest excavations in the country, which are currently being carried out on the territory of the southern suburb of Tauric Chersonesos. Such models open up to the scientific community what the stratigraphy of a particular archaeological site looks like, how the formation of an archaeological site as a whole takes place. It would also be useful to use them in teaching archeology students , — said the scientist.