The first ever 3D cataloguing of Hatshepsut's temple

Experts from the company Leica Geosystems in Warsaw, together with Wrocław's Technology University will create the first ever 3D cataloguing of Queen Hatshepsut's temple in Deir el-Bahari, in Egypt. One of the most advanced high-tech lasers in the world will be used to do this - informs Waldemar Kubisz from Leica Geosystems. "3D laser scanning is currently used globally in construction and architecture, industrial engineering, geodesy, conservancy and archaeology, crime detection and many other fields" - says Kubisz.

He adds that laser scanning is irreplaceable when you need to quickly catalogue the object where no such cataloguing exists or is out of date. The technology allows to get data for a 3-D model in a fast, precise and safe way.

"3D scanners, from the point of view of their construction, can be compared to high quality motorized electronic tachometers total stations - explains Leica Geosystems' representative. - Upon being launched, a laser beam scans the surrounding area, by measuring the distances and angle displacements it marks out the X,Y, Zcoordinates". The range of the scanner is up to 300 meters, and its precision for the range of 50m is +/-6mm. Creating the full visualization of the object is possible through the integration of the cloud of points gathered by the 3D scanner with photos of the given object.

Outdoor works began at the end of February and lasted 9 days. The preliminary results and information about the technology that was used were presented at two lectures entitled "3D Scanning technology". One took place on March 7th in the Museum of Mummification in Luxor, the other on March 10th in the Cairo station of the University of Warsaw's (UW) Mediterranean Archaeology Center.

The Polish-Egyptian archaeological-conservational mission, that is working under the auspices of UW's Mediterranean Archaeology Center currently led by Dr Zbigniew Szafrański, has been restoring Hatshepsut's temple for the past few decades.