Il castello di Shawbak da pallone aerostatico. Un approccio metodologico integrato per lo studio delle emergenze archeologiche

The archaeological complex of Shawbak is located about 25 km north of Petra in Jordan, and is one of the best preserved medieval settlement in the entire Middle East. Since 2005, the research group of ITABC-CNR of Italy carried out several aero-photogrammetric acquisitions and photographic documentation of the whole castle. Aim of the research was the documentation of the monumental area, using different photogrammetric systems, directly anchored to a gas balloon. The balloon allowed to acquire more than 3000 pictures with different cameras and lenses from an height of 50/60 m up to 100 m. Each survey was supported by topographical survey with the aid of GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) to ensure a correct reference system. Actually photomodeling software are able to reconstruct the shape and the geometry of an object, starting from a set of unordered images. The results are point clouds very accurate similar to the results of a laser scanner. Data taken in these years have been processed again for different results and final representations. A comparison among the results and the existing documentation evidenced the importance of this methodology of data acquiring and processing.