Articles by Anne Flammin

In building archaeology, the survey is the most important tool. It gives a global analysis of the building: its relative chronology, the building stratigraphy, the architectural techniques, etc. These elements indicate the progress of the construction site. A section of the “Archéométrie et Archéologie” laboratory (UMR 5138), managed by Prof. N. Reveyron, is specialized in building archaeology. Archaeologists, con¬fronted with the analysis of a building, often choose the manual survey, “stone by stone”. In 2010, the laboratory equipped itself with a LaserScan (Faro Photon 120) and software of processing point-cloud (Faro Scene and JRC Reconstructor) for surveys of medieval archaeology. Formerly unable to use this type of tool, the archaeologists of this laboratory received in situ training in the manipulation of the laser scanner and in the data processing. The goal of this acquisition was not to produce simple point-cloud surveys, but to cross the traditional technique (hand-sketch survey) with the lasergrammetry, in order to enrich the graphic documentation, which is the basis of any building archaeology analysis. It should document a building, improve the hand survey and facilitate the realization of new surveys, without the need for an often too-expensive scaffold. This article presents our methodology and the results obtained during building analysis of the Romanesque Church of Veyrines in Ardèche; it aims to demonstrate the potentials and the limitations of this technique of 3D acquisition, and to compare the needs and the technical solutions afforded by building archaeology.