Photogrammetry: Palace City of Karabalgasun (Mongolia)

As part of a cooperation project between the German Archaeological Institute, the National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian Academy of Sciences and the Chair of Computer Graphics at HTW Dresden in Germany, documentation and visualization of large areas and ancient sculptures and finds are being carried out and examined.

During a documentation campaign in 2018, over 50 km2 were photogrammetrically surveyed in just a few days [1]. In 2019, the documentation area was once again expanded on a large scale.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site Orkhon Valley was the capital region of the Uyghur Empire from 744-840 and was known as Ordu-Baliq or Karabalgasun. A highly developed city with palaces, temples and a complex infrastructure, it was an important hub on the Silk Road. The remains of the former palace city with its citadel are still visible from afar and were also reconstructed in 2018.

Монгол найзууддаа зориулав! (For my Mongolian friends!)

Orchon Valley Cultural Landscape (GAI)
https://www.dainst.org/en/research/pr...

Dr. Benjamin Ducke, German Archaeological Institut
https://www.dainst.org/wer-wir-sind/m...

Dr. Hendrik Rohland, German Archaeological Institut/HTW Dresden
https://chnt.at/hendrik-rohland/

Dr. Christina Franken, German Archaeological Institut
https://www.dainst.org/wer-wir-sind/m...

Dr. Tumurochir Batbayar, Mongolian Academy of Sciences
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/...

Prof. Dr. Ulambayar Erdenebat, National University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar
https://num.academia.edu/UlambayarErd...

PD Prof. Dr. Marco Block-Berlitz, HTW Dresden
http://www.archaeocopter.de/

Learn to use videogrammetry yourself:
https://www.vividus-verlag.de/3d_reco...

[1] Block-Berlitz M., Ducke B., Rohland H., Franken C., Suchowska P., Batbayar T., Erdenebat U.: "Area-Optimized, Rapid UAV-Borne Recording of Medivial Heritage in Central Asia", Journal of Field Archaeology, Taylor & Francis, 2021, pp. 1-15

Some related keywords: jKeyframer, RealityCapture, 3D Reconstruction, Mongolia, Karabalgasun, Photogrammetry, Pix4DCapture