Drone photogrammetry as a tool for modern conflict archaeology: a case study of a Second World War armament bunker in Bavaria

ABSTRACT

Within this paper, a case study on the application of drone photogrammetry at the Second World War armament bunker Weingut I is presented. The aim of the project was the mapping of the preserved remains in advance to the installation of a memorial site. In particular, the preserved concrete arch and one of the ventilation shafts were mapped by this method in high quality. Therefore, even small details of the building structure as well as several damage spots needing remediation became visible. One important advantage of drone prospecting is an enhanced occupational safety and a cost and time reduction as no further manual resources are necessary. In areas without finalized clearing for Unexploded Ordnance, other manual survey method would be especially dangerous. By comparing the photogrammetric model of the bunker Weingut I with corresponding ALS Digital Surface Models (DSM) of varying resolution, the increase in information is shown.

KEYWORDS:

• UAV
• photogrammetry
• Structure-from-Motion
• Airborne Laserscanning
• Second World War
• armament bunker
• conflict landscapes

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Notes on contributors

Roland Linck

Roland Linck is a Diploma (2009) and PhD (2013) in Geophysics at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Afterwards four years of work in support, training and service provider in hard- and software solutions in UAV surveying as well as officially licenced UAV trainer at geo-konzept GmbH (Germany). Since 2018, scientist in the working group “Archaeological Prospection” at the Bavarian State Department of Monuments and Sites (Munich, Germany); since 2020 as head of the working group. Since 2018, lecturer on “Engineering and Environmental Geophysics” at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich. Research focus is on UAV photogrammetry, aerial archaeology and ground-penetrating radar prospection as well as other remote sensing approaches.

Andreas Stele

Andreas Stele is a Diploma in Physical Geography at the University of Osnabrück (Germany), PhD in Applied Geophysics and Geoarchaeology at the University of Osnabrück. After my diploma, I gained a lot of experience in battlefield archaeology and conflict landscapes studies. Since 2014, I have been a member of the working group “Interdisziplinäre Arbeitsgruppe Konfliktlandschaften” (Interdisciplinary Working Group on Conflict Landscapes) at the University of Osnabrück. Since that time, I have been involved in the development of non-invasive geophysical and remote sensing methods for the prospection of the archaeological materiality of conflict landscapes. I have been at the BLfD since 2020, and together with colleagues, we are developing and expanding our toolbox of methods for archaeological prospection and for the documentation of architectural and archaeological monuments.