Papers by Leopoldo Repola
1st International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology, 2015
3D models derived from digital survey techniques have increasingly developed and focused on many ... more 3D models derived from digital survey techniques have increasingly developed and focused on many fields of application, from urban survey and landscapes to individual objects of cultural heritage. The high detailed content and accuracy of such models makes them attractive and useful for a wide range of purposes. The present paper focuses mainly on the combined use of 3D survey techniques of small and medium objects, using the conventional scanner Artec, with ScubaLibre, a 3D stereoscopic scanner system developed by the Suor Orsola Benincasa University team. This paper presents the results obtained during the underwater excavation of a ship that sank near Marzamemi, southeast Sicily, in the 6th century AD. The data collected and processed offers the basis for new analysis of contexts and artifacts found and the development of new forms of musealization of cultural heritage through innovative technologies for augmented reality and immersive environments.
Monuments and methods in the age of digital technology : a case study and its implications, 2020
This essay proposes a new method of analysis and data sharing for the study of historical monumen... more This essay proposes a new method of analysis and data sharing for the study of historical monuments. Our approach proceeds from the outset as an interdisciplinary collaboration to define and adopt appropriate data gathering technologies, followed by the creation of 3D models as virtual laboratories to test hypotheses. We conclude with a description of an open access and interoperable database that will make our research findings available to the public. In short, we describe a research method that begins with an historical question that invites the integration of a range of technologies as an answer: a georadar survey, three-dimensional digitization (laser and photogrammetry), parametric modeling, and systems for the immersive use of data and augmented reality.2 The research initiative engaged a full and democratic collaboration of experts from a variety of disciplines; no single individual would have been able to achieve results without the close conceptual partnership with colleagues in various fields of expertise. Our essay aims to describe the following: • a historical question conceived and executed by an interdisciplinary team • the use of 3D modeling as an iterative process and form of intellectual reasoning that was an integral part of the research • a relational data collection system that is user-friendly, open access, negotiable, and available for data mining • a datasharing platform that amplifies the utility of research findings • a semiotics of the historical datapoints that include the development of 3D models as an experimental laboratory and as an historical argument.
DIALOGHI / DIALOGUES • visioni e visualità / visions and visuality
The fortress of Ighram Aousser is located in Morocco, 10 km W of M’rirt and 120 km S of Meknés, o... more The fortress of Ighram Aousser is located in Morocco, 10 km W of M’rirt and 120 km S of Meknés, on the so-called mines route. The lack of an organic and complete documentation and a concrete need to acquire new data about unexplored areas have required a multi-methodological research including the analysis of historical sources, archaeological surveys, topographic investigations, laser scanner modelling and geophysical prospections. All data were stored in a Geographic Information System, which allowed spatial analyses and the creation of thematic maps. The integrated geoarchaeological approach has led to a new archaeological map providing an updated view of the rich archaeological heritage in that territory. The article also offers a complete account of the valorization processes, the international promotion of the site and its long-lasting mining tradition.
ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2019
Three-dimensional acquisition systems for architecture have significantly evolved over just a few... more Three-dimensional acquisition systems for architecture have significantly evolved over just a few decades, with them allowing point clouds to be generated through active and passive optical sensor equipment. Accuracy levels vary considerably in relation to both the equipment and techniques used, with the data obtained acting as a scaffolding for the creation of derived models that allow specific analyses to be carried out. Ongoing research on Palazzo Donn'Anna, a Neapolitan sixteenth-century building of particular historical and artistic value, is being carried out in this context and the first results are presented in this paper. The entire building has been the subject of an instrumental survey. The northeast façade was proposed as a case-study for the experimentation of diversified reality-based sensors so as to compare the accuracy and precision of the data. The comparison was also aimed at evaluating the performance of some processing softwares. Finally, in order to obtain an estimate of the data in the transcription from the point cloud to a derived 3D model, the reproduction of the same portion of the prospectus in a derivative model of both objectoriented and NURBS types was experimented.
American Journal of Archaeology, 2022
The central Mediterranean today marks one of the most active and dangerous routes for sea crossin... more The central Mediterranean today marks one of the most active and dangerous routes for sea crossings to Europe, due in no small part to border regimes designed to prevent the mobilities that have defined these waters from earliest antiquity. This article considers initial results of fieldwork undertaken to document and make visible the material culture of contemporary vessels used to carry forced and undocumented migrants to southeast Sicily over the past decade. These former fishing craft reveal structural and spatial adaptations to facilitate a different traffic, reflected also in items left behind when the boats were intercepted. Archaeology helps to embed these journeys within long-term frameworks of connectivity and to situate their ephemeral traces alongside more traditional notions of Mediterranean maritime heritage. In a region that celebrates its deep connections to the sea, care for the materiality of these contemporary mobilities foregrounds human experiences, while servin...
This essay describes the use of Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) to establish the location and dime... more This essay describes the use of Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) to establish the location and dimensions of the destroyed choir screen at the church of Sta. Chiara in Naples. On the basis of this new evidence, inserted within a laser scan of the church that provides its exact dimensions, the authors have been able to reconstruct a hypothetical model of the screen’s original appearance. The model, if correct, suggests that the choir screen not only contained altars to Saints Francis and Claire (now present in the flanking side chapels), but also that it supported an upper gallery that connected the wide tribunes on either side of the nave. It is hoped that this hypothetical model will stimulate new research on the décor, liturgy, and ceremonial functions of this important Neapolitan church.
Este artículo pretende dar a conocer el desarrollo teórico y metodológico de dos proyectos de inv... more Este artículo pretende dar a conocer el desarrollo teórico y metodológico de dos proyectos de investigación pertenecientes al ámbito de las Humanidades Digitales (Digital Humanities) que tienen como objetivo el estudio de la espiritualidad femenina medieval. A lo largo de este trabajo nos referiremos a ellos como Atlas CLAUSTRA 1 y PAISAJES ESPIRITUALES 2. En ambos proyectos se hace uso de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC), de los Sistemas de Bases de Datos (BBDD) y de los Sistemas de Información Geográfica (GIS) como herramientas de almacenaje, representación y análisis de la información contenida en las fuentes históricas. Uno de sus principals objetivos consiste en la creación de una potente plataforma digital sobre la espiritualidad femenina medieval, útil tanto para la investigación histórica como para la difusión y transferencia del conocimiento sobre la Edad Media. Ambos proyectos, liderados desde la Universidad de Barcelona, cuentan con la colaboración de múltiples equipos de trabajo e investigadores de carácter internacional, procedentes de un largo elenco de universidades y centros de investigación españoles, europeos y americanos, gracias a los cuales trabajamos desde una perspectiva colaborativa, interdisciplinar y en red.
Archaeological Prospection
Three-dimensional (3D) models derived from digital survey techniques have increasingly become a m... more Three-dimensional (3D) models derived from digital survey techniques have increasingly become a mainstay of archaeological research and cultural heritage management. The high accuracy of such modelling makes it an attractive solution for a wide range of challenges from site recording and interpretation to object analysis and reconstruction. The present paper focuses on a new 3D digitization method using stereoscopic video for the documentation, analysis, and representation of archaeological contexts as part of shipwreck investigations off southeast Sicily at Marzamemi. This sixth-century ce vessel sank in shallow water (7–8 m) while carrying a massive cargo of largely prefabricated architectural elements intended for the construction and decoration of a church somewhere in the late antique west. This dynamic site presents significant challenges to the interpretation of depositional and post-depositional events as well the reconstruction of the original cargo and individual architectural elements. Therefore, 3D documentation underwater at Marzamemi has centred on new methods for stereoscopic scanning of the site, topography, and large architectural finds, allowing not only more rapid and precise mapping but insights into site formation processes and the organizational mechanisms behind the cargo assemblage. The adoption of this new system based on a precise workflow and simple, inexpensive hardware combined with readily available software allows more accurate and rapid digital recording underwater to a high standard across scales, from the site level down to the individual artefact. This process, named ISU3D (Integrated System for Underwater 3D Digitization), offers innovative solutions not only for archaeological field research but for heritage management and public outreach.
ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences
Within the cooperation project between the University Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples and the arc... more Within the cooperation project between the University Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples and the archaeological mission in Hattuša of the German Archaeological Institute of Istanbul, directed by Andreas Schachner, in agreement with the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the workgroup of the University of Naples, has carried out, in September 2015, a first survey campaign of the whole rocky site of Yazılıkaya. <br><br> The experimentation has been finalized at constructing a global 3D territorial and monumental model of the site, capable that is, through the application of differing scanning procedures, according to the different components (topography, rocky complex, the cultural spaces therein, complex of sculptural reliefs, inscriptions accompanying the divine representations), of virtually reproducing in detail, for safegaurd, exhibition and study purposes (in particular from an epigraphical and historic-artistic point of view) all the aspects characterizing the ar...
ISPRS - International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2015
In the research started within the SINAPSIS project of the Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Ben... more In the research started within the SINAPSIS project of the Università degli Studi Suor Orsola Benincasa an underwater stereoscopic scanning aimed at surveying of submerged archaeological sites, integrable to standard systems for geomorphological detection of the coast, has been developed. The project involves the construction of hardware consisting of an aluminum frame supporting a pair of GoPro Hero Black Edition cameras and software for the production of point clouds and the initial processing of data. <br><br> The software has features for stereoscopic vision system calibration, reduction of noise and the of distortion of underwater captured images, searching for corresponding points of stereoscopic images using stereo-matching algorithms (dense and sparse), for points cloud generating and filtering. <br><br> Only after various calibration and survey tests carried out during the excavations envisaged in the project, the mastery of methods for an efficient ...
The fortress of Ighram Aousser is located in Morocco, 10 km W of M’rirt and 120 km S of Meknés, o... more The fortress of Ighram Aousser is located in Morocco, 10 km W of M’rirt and 120 km S of Meknés, on the so-called mines route. The lack of an organic and complete documentation and a concrete need to acquire new data about unexplored areas have required a multi-methodological research including the analysis of historical sources, archaeological surveys, topographic investigations, laser scanner modelling and geophysical prospections. All data were stored in a Geographic Information System, which allowed spatial analyses and the creation of thematic maps. The integrated geoarchaeological approach has led to a new archaeological map providing an updated view of the rich archaeological heritage in that territory. The article also offers a complete account of the valorization processes, the international promotion of the site and its long-lasting mining tradition.
Trinacria, 'An Island Outside Time'
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Papers by Leopoldo Repola
Il patrimonio storico millenario del Marocco (S. Festuccia)
Le miniere antiche: una nuova frontiera della ricerca archeologica (L.I. Manfredi)
Progetto Aouam (Tighza, Khénifra): dallo scavo al parco archeominerario (L.I. Manfredi)
Progetto Aoaum: il museo e la formazione (C. Cecalupo)
Il futuro della ricerca in Marocco. Le nuove tecnologie (M. Cozzolino- S. Festuccia -P. Merola L. Repola -)