Abstract
Dense lichen covers roughly a quarter of the above-ground stone surfaces at Stonehenge, which renders them inaccessible to study. A to¬tal of 72 Early Bronze Age carvings have recently been found on the bare stone surfaces, prompt-ing concerns that lichen may be obscuring pre¬historic rock art. As a first step towards creat¬ing a technique for revealing carvings beneath lichen, photography-derived 3D modelling and machine learning were combined to create a method for identifying carvings on bare stone surfaces. Tasked with differentiating between areas of the stone surfaces with and without carvings, the method achieved 84.2% accuracy. With further development, this work could be used by rock art conservators and archaeolo¬gists to verify carving findings, search for pre¬viously unidentified carvings and eventually reveal carvings hidden by lichen.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Transcending Boundaries: Integrated Approaches to Conservation. |
Subtitle of host publication | ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference Preprints |
Editors | Janet Bridgland |
Place of Publication | Paris |
Publisher | International Council of Museums |
Publication status | Accepted/In press - 20 Nov 2020 |
Event | The 19th ICOM-CC Triennial Conference - Beijing, China Duration: 17 May 2021 → 22 May 2021 |
Conference
Conference | The 19th ICOM-CC Triennial Conference |
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Country/Territory | China |
City | Beijing |
Period | 17/05/21 → 22/05/21 |
Keywords
- Stonehenge
- rock art
- lichen
- Early Bronze Age
- digital archaeology
- machine learning
- 3D models
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Matthew Brolly
- School of Applied Sciences - Principal Lecturer
- Centre for Earth Observation Science
Person: Academic