A white-box framework to oversee archaeological virtual reconstructions in space and time: Methods and tools

The goal of this paper is to present original methods and visual tools able to formally document the scientific processes behind an archaeological virtual reconstruction, namely a new version of the Extended Matrix (EM 1.1) and the Extended Matrix Framework (EMF 1.1). The proposed approach aims to improve the EM as well as methods and tools for 3D query, visualization, and inspection of extended matrices in order to solve current bottlenecks and issues with the integration of 3D virtual environments and rich semantic descriptions (EMF). A real case scenario is provided to present the steps involved in a reconstruction project using EM/EMF: the Great Temple of the ancient Roman town Colonia Dacica Sarmizegetusa.