MODELOS CON NIVEL DE DETALLE VARIABLE REALIZADOS MEDIANTE UN LEVANTAMIENTO DIGITAL APLICADOS A LA ARQUEOLOGÍA

This paper focuses on the use of information technologies in the field of archaeological representation. It is part of a series of studies on the Villa Adriana in Tivoli which have led us to investigate the decoration of the Maritime Theatre (Emperor Hadrian’s personal residence) and other famous archaeological structures located within this UNESCO World Heritage listed site. The richness of detail that characterise the curved entablature pieces of this landmark building stimulated our research team 1 to develop new methods of representation, allowing the interactive assembling of digital models of a high geometric detail obtained by means of laser scanning. This article explains a new methodology for optimising digital survey data in the archaeological field which has previously been developed in other research sectors but not yet implemented in digital survey programs.