Modelling Rome’s Maritime Facade
Jari Pakkanen,* Peter Rose* and Emma Claridge**
*Royal Holloway, University of London
**University College London
The visualisation carried out as part of the 3D-Bridge sub-project is an integral part of the larger research project The Evolution of Rome’s Maritime Facade: Archaeology & Geomorphology at Castelporziano conducted at the Department of Classics, Royal Holloway, University of London and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. The 3D-Bridge project Modelling Rome’s Maritime Facade: Villa Architecture at Castelporziano employs directly the data collected in previous fieldwork at the site and the new archaeological and geomorphological study of Castelporziano.
The presidential estate of Castelporziano/Capocotta includes seven kilometres of ancient coastline to the south of the ancient port city of Ostia; in the Roman period (100 BC – AD 500) the shore was a favoured location for the Roman aristocracy to construct a series of villas on the seafront. In the 3D-Bridge project we will take a short stretch of this coastline under closer scrutiny and build a three-dimensional model which can be used to explore and explain what is the relationship between the excavated archaeological remains, current surface features and what once stood on the site. The model will also be designed in a way that it can take into account how villa architecture responded to the continuing evolution of the coastline and to the environmental changes associated with this development.
The fieldwork in September 2005 concentrated on collecting data for a high-precision topographic model of an area of 260 by 140 metres next to the northern boundary of the estate (‘Villa del Confine’). Since the site is heavily forested, the fastest way of recording the surface co-ordinates is using a total station and a prism: the dense foliage creates difficulties in the use of a reflectorless laser setting for the total station, differential global positioning system and also remotely sensed images. The measured 4,200 points have been used to create a three-dimensional digital elevation model of the surface forms in the geographic information system ArcView. This model has already proven very useful for analysing the relationship between the current features and the archaeological remains. Work on integrating the three-dimensional data of the previously recorded walls into the model is currently ongoing: this phase is carried out in AutoCAD and the resulting models are imported to ArcScene.
The method used by Peter Rose in the modelling and analysis of standing buildings at Ostia will also be employed where appropriate. This approach offers great advantages over traditional building survey and recording methods by using digital photogrammetry. It permits an objective visualisation of the structures in their present state; reconstructions can be produced from these visualisations and used in more detailed analyses. The approach has proven to be both an accurate and easy way of capturing a large amount of data in a short period of time.
During the fieldwork planned for April 2006 the area covered by the topographic model will be enlarged to include a longer and wider stretch of the ancient coastline. The main emphasis of the work will be on geophysical survey, excavating test trenches and geomorphology, vital aspects of understanding the archaeological remains and evolution of the coastline.
