3D scanning of remote archaeological sites using UAVs

This village is located in the Hajar mountains close to Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE. Local archaeologists at the Museum of Antiquities believe the site is medieval and was inhabited by the Shihuh people of northern Oman.

The site is accessible by road to within 1km after which a short walk along the wadi will bring you to the southwest entrance. We were able to carry in the equipment which mostly consisted of a DJI S1000 Drone, spare batteries, and a collection of cameras. We conducted several flights and settled on this grid pattern to best capture the full area.

A 3D model (8,409,044 points and 645,894 faces.) was later generated in Agisoft PhotoScanPro from 40 Cameras.