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3D Archaeological Site Recording in the Three Gorges Area

1999 - Yangtze River, China

In 1999, NRC collaborated with one of our industrial partners, Innovision 3D (currently MCG3D), the Canadian Foundation for the Preservation of Chinese Cultural and Historical Treasures and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) in China on a pilot project to demonstrate the application of Biris technology for recording archaeological sites in the Three Gorges area of China. As a result of the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Yangtze River , an estimated 800-1000 heritage sites along the River will be flooded and lost by 2009. Consequently, the recording of these sites represents a significant challenge for Chinese heritage officials.

For the project, a Biris camera was mounted on a linear translation stage and was used to digitize the shape details of rock carvings in a niche at the Bei Shan (Big Foot) rock-carving site near Dazu (Figure 1). The Bei Shan site dates to the ninth century and consists of rock carvings cut into 264 niches on a large hillside rock outcrop. The project led to the donation to SACH of a Biris-based ShapeGrabber camera system specifically designed for field recording by Innovision 3D and the Canadian Foundation.

Figure 1: BIRIS system recording at Bei Shan, China
The BIRIS system set up on scaffolding at niche #147 at Bei Shan (a and b). At a stand off distance of 0.3 m, the range accuracy is 80 microns. The 3D digital model recorded by the system is shown c. It represents an archival recording of the shape of the carvings in the niche, which can be used to document the condition of the site, to monitor ongoing erosion for conservation applications and to prepare a replica.
Click on the image for a larger view

For more information see Taylor, 2001. Demonstration of Canadian 3D Technology for Heritage Recording in China, NRC 44191.