Archaeological illustration is a form of

technical illustration Technical Illustration is illustration meant to visually communicate information of a technical nature. Technical illustrations can be components of technical drawings or diagrams. Technical illustrations in general aim "to generate expressive ...

that records material derived from an archaeological context graphically.Barker 1977

Overview

Archaeological Illustration encompasses a number of sub disciplines. These are: * '' Surveying'': To produce an accurate record of sites and buildings and to record accurately where the sites and buildings lie within the landscape. Surveyors use a range of equipment including tapes,

plane table A plane table (plain table prior to 1830) is a device used in surveying site mapping, exploration mapping, coastal navigation mapping, and related disciplines to provide a solid and level surface on which to make field drawings, charts and maps. ...

total station A total station (TS) or total station theodolite (TST) is an electronic/optical instrument used for surveying and building construction. It is an electronic transit theodolite integrated with electronic distance measurement (EDM) to measure ...

s, 3D scanners,

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

and GIS to produce illustrations including

plans A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. ...

sections Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...

and elevations as well as isometric and

axonometric Axonometric projection is a type of orthographic projection used for creating a pictorial drawing of an object, where the object is rotated around one or more of its axes to reveal multiple sides.Gary R. Bertoline et al. (2002) ''Technical Graph ...

illustrations which are regularly used in building recording. Survey data will be gathered on acid free paper, polyvinyl permatrace and archive stable digital formats.Archaeological Data Service digital data standards
Digital Archives from Excavation and Fieldwork: Guide to Good Practice 2nd Edition
/ref> * ''

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

'': To produce a record of archaeological sites, buildings, artifacts and landscapes. Archaeological photographers will uses a range of different formats particularly black-and-white and colour slide.

Digital photography Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image ...

is now starting to become more widely used and is especially useful for the recording of historic building.

Aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

is commonly used as a tool for recording sites and is also used as a prospecting tool to locate new archaeological sites. * '' Artefact illustration'': To record objects using agreed conventions to allow further study of the objects by specialists on publication.The Graphics Archaeology Group of the IfA
(GAG) provide a range of guidance documents online. Artefact illustrators will use pen-and-ink as well as graphics and page layout software. * ''Interpretation and reconstruction illustration'': To visualise the results of archaeological field work in a way that is meaningful and visually appealing to as many as possible.Hodgson 2000 Reconstruction artists work in many media from traditional pen-and-ink and painted reconstruction to more modern techniques including 3D,

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

and

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syst ...

. File:Brooch_(FindID_611470).tif, Small Square-Headed brooch of Anglo-Saxon at 2:1 scale File:HUA-214641-Plattegrond_van_het_terrein_en_de_bebouwing_van_de_voormalige_St_Paulusabdij_Hamburgerstraat_met_aangrenzende_straten_en_bebouwing_te_UtrechtMet_weerg.jpg, Map of the grounds and buildings of the former St. Paulus Abbey (Hamburgerstraat) File:Phase.001.png, Sequence of 3 archaeological phases

References

External links

The Chartered Institute for Archaeologists

The Graphics Archaeology Group of the IfA

An online demonstration of how an archaeological illustrator goes about their work. {{DEFAULTSORT:Archaeological Illustration Methods in archaeology Drawing Technical drawing Infographics

Overview

See also

References

Further reading

External links