Principles and Methods for the Virtual Archaeological Reconstruction of an Ancient Monument

This contribution concerns the methodology to be applied for the virtual reconstruction of a monument according to a precise methodological process: data acquisition, data processing, and data presentation. Regarding data acquisition, the necessary information to be used as a scientific basis for a correct virtual reconstruction will be illustrated through some examples, which are known as “research sources”. These sources are divided into direct primary, indirect primary, and secondary sources, such as 3D surveys, stratigraphic analysis of a building’s walls, archaeol - ogical excavation data, as well as written and iconographic sources, and style and analogy comparisons. The section concerning data processing will instead illustrate how the information from research sources is used to create a virtual reconstruction through the processing of a 3D model. Finally, the scientific method for presenting a virtual reconstruction through the socalled “data correspondence models” will be outlined i n the last section.