In a major piece of collaborative authorship, editors Stylianidis and Remondino have brought together a truly impressive array of international authors, both academics and practitioners, to present a book that deals with a wide-ranging raft of subjects associated with technological applications for recording a variety of heritage resources. In its highly detailed approach, the book can be seen as a very sophisticated follow-up to another multi-authored work on archaeological recording techniques: Measurement and Recording of Historic Buildings (Swallow et al Reference Swallow, Jackson, Godfrey, Dallas, Westman and Watt2004). The scope of the present volume, however, is even wider in its extraordinary breadth, which includes small finds (cuneiform documents held by the Universalmuseum Joanneum), substantial features (St Mark’s Basilica, in Venice), individual buildings (the church of Megali Panayia, in Greece), groups of structures (the Forum at Pompeii) and entire landscapes (Jebel Bishri, in Syria). The overall impact is to present the case for the use of three-dimensional techniques at almost every level of archaeological application.
The techniques explored by the authors include digital photogrammetry, 3D modelling, reflectance transformation imaging and drone photography. Such approaches are fast becoming the norm within the archaeological toolkit and this volume sets out the stall for their widespread application within our discipline. Until very recently, 3D modelling of artefacts and buildings was viewed as a nice piece of eye-catching imagery with which to attract the attention of the media and general public during press releases or open days. The interpretive use of 3D techniques has been slower to find consistent employment in archaeological practice, but is now in large-scale demand. Consequently, the three-dimensional approach has most certainly come of age and heralds the standard technological future in much the same way that the total station, laser scanning and geophysics did in the late twentieth century.
One of the most important sections for the future of historic building recording and conservation is Anna Osello and Fulvio Rinaudo’s chapter on the use of geographical information systems and building imaging management (BIM). Already a de facto technology in the engineering and construction sectors, BIM is gradually progressing into the management of heritage assets. As leading curatorial organisations such as Historic England become more interested in the methodological use of building 3D models of structures to understand the interrelationships of structure, feature and services, BIM will become an interactive visual form of the established conservation management plan. Curators, managers and owners of listed buildings would do well to heed the advice given by the two authors, as BIM seems set to become the established method of balancing the conservation needs of historic properties.
It is imperative to stress that this is a very significant, necessary and important text that can be added to the corpus of books dealing with the recording and management of archaeological assets. Highly detailed and full of useful illustrative material alongside exhaustive references, this text will have a wide-ranging use for many years to come across the disparate fields of academia, conservation and commercial archaeology.
