Photogrammetric modeling and the central ravine of the sanctuary of the great gods, Samothrace

Abstract A seasonal torrent, bounded by retaining walls integrating Greek and Roman phases, runs through the middle of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace. This central ravine was the subject of study in 2016, inspired by the American mission’s current focus on the question of how ancient visitors navigated the sanctuary. A key aspect of this study was the accurate, but selective, documentation of the ravine’s anthropogenic elements, and the delineation of these premodern and modern phases. Rather than using laser scanning or other technologies more often used for large features, the project generated a high definition photogrammetric model and associated vector drawings by a modified protocol using a handheld camera. This case study reviews the efficacy of this low-resource methodology within a complex archaeological site, its limitations, and the technique’s long-term benefits in light of a series of catastrophic storms between 2017 and 2020.