A dig in Pompeii made me stop trusting the old field manuals

I spent 8 years doing survey work using the same trench recording methods from a 1998 textbook. Then last spring I joined a dig near Pompeii and the lead archaeologist showed me how they use photogrammetry to map every layer before they even touch a trowel. Watching the 3D model come together on a tablet in real time really flipped a switch for me. I realized we were losing so much context with the old pencil and graph paper approach, especially on complex stratigraphy. Now I run a quick drone pass on every site I work, even small ones, and it costs me about $60 a day in battery and processing time. Has anyone else switched from traditional recording to digital workflows after seeing it work in the field? I want to hear what tools people are using for artifact tracking too.

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luna_green1mo ago

God, yes, photogrammetry changed everything for me too after seeing it on a rescue dig last year!

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