Abstract
From 3D recording to virtual reconstruction: A case study of The Tomb of the Siren. Etruscan rock-cut tombs with decorated façades are phenomenon located only in area of inland Southern Etruria, today region of Southern Tuscany, Italy.
In many cases façades carved out from tufo bedrock suffer from heavy erosion caused by water and vegetation: their unique architectural and figural decorations year by year became still more difficult to identify, and details of rock-art figures are slowly vanishing. This paper explores the potential of 3D recording, analysis and virtual reconstruction for the study of the tomb façades through the case study of The Tomb of the Siren from necropolis of Sovana in Tuscany, Italy.
The tomb is dated to the end of 3rd century BC - 1st half of 2nd century BC. For documentation of the monument was used multi-image photogrammetry technique.
Acquired images were processed in low cost photogrammetric software to create a high resolution 3D model. The resulting model has been used for archaeological analysis of the context: in a virtual environment the surveyed surface has been visualized using different shaders and lightening conditions to highlight the micromorphology of the surface in order to better understand the details of relief decoration.
Orthoimages of different shaded models served for creation of an interpretative drawing. The surveyed 3D geometry has been further sculpted in computer graphic software to reconstruct its hypothetical original aspect.
The virtual reconstruction was based on archeological studies of the monument, analogies in Etruscan architecture and cinerary urns, iconography of Etruscan frescoes and relief decoration of Etruscan cinerary urns and sarcophagi.