Photogrammetry Myths | CAA Australasia Panel

CAA Australasia Digital Archaeology Panel Series

Join us for a free online panel where we'll dispel some of the myths surrounding photogrammetry in archaeology. Emily Tour will lead a discussion with four photogrammetry experts who've worked across academia, museums and commercial archaeology. This panel will explore the approaches to photogrammetry available to archaeologists; how to choose between different methods, technology and software; tips and tricks to avoid common pitfalls; advice on how to improve your models; as well as discussion on some of the ethical questions surrounding digital model making.

An open Q&A will follow where you can ask our panellists about their work and research, as well as any other burning 3D modelling questions you may have.

Meet the Panellists:

Tom Keep is an archaeologist and PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on 3D modelling and virtual reality as a means of engagement with rural archaeological heritage and an avenue to make material culture more available and comprehensible to general audiences. He has worked with the Hellenic Museum, the University of Melbourne, and the Uncovered Past Institute in creating and managing their 3D model collections, as well as acting as a photogrammetrist with the Marzuolo Archaeological Project, the Piano di Gioia Tauro Survey Project, and the Legio excavations of the Jezreel Valley Regional Project. 

Dr Corey Noxon is an archaeologist and assistant professor at Ritsumeikan University with the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO). His research projects involve using photogrammetry at a variety of different scales including scanning pottery recovered from a submerged archaeological site located in the northern end of Lake Biwa, scanning in-progress excavations in Shiga and Yamanashi prefectures, creating 3D models of Jomon period pithouse reconstructions to use in material and energy cost estimations, and scanning a number of stone circle sites in northern Japan, some of which were part of the Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan UNESCO world heritage site inscription of 2021.

Michael Rampe is a veteran photogrammetrist with over 10 years of experience scanning a whole bunch of subjects from fashion and buildings, to boats, coins, heritage, artworks and many more wild and wonderful things in between including 80 tons of fossils in one week once! He developed the Pedestal 3D platform as an educational tool and spun it out into a successful startup. He runs an imaging and consultancy company Rampe Realistic Imaging Pty Ltd in Sydney, Australia and when he is not doing all that, he works on digital object-based learning and teaches students 3D imaging at Macquarie University.

Madeline G.P. Robinson is an archaeologist, the Tom Austen Brown Research Support Officer, and PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. Madeline specialises in photogrammetry and has worked at a variety of archaeological sites in Australia and overseas, above and underwater, since graduating from USYD with a Science and Arts degree and First-Class Honours. Over the past few years, Madeline has been training students in photogrammetry and has recently published the book Photogrammetry for Archaeological Objects: A Manual with Sydney University Press. To see what Madeline has been up to, you can check out her website or her Sketchfab page.

Emily Tour (she/they) is an archaeologist and PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. Their research focuses on the study of Bronze Age Aegean administrative documents; in particular, the application of digital methods such as 3D modelling, shape analysis and phylogenetics to better understand these artefacts. Emily currently volunteers at the Australian Institute of Archaeology, where they are assisting with the ongoing digitisation of the museum's collection. They are also an ongoing participant in the Kaymakçı Archaeological Project in western Türkiye and have been involved in both object and field photogrammetry at the site.

CAA Australasia's events are free and open to the public. Attendees agree to abide the by the CAA International's social media policy.

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Event image: Photogrammetric model of NM98.139, Chau Chak Wing Museum