3D Modeling for Understanding Cave Art

Dr. Jordan Schaefer, University of Tennessee, Knoxville addressed the Blue Ridge Archaeology Guild (BRAG) and the UNG Anthropology Students Club on August 14. His presentation it titled “Creating a 3D Map of a Dark-Zone Cave Art Site in Tennessee.”

Dr. Schaefer's presentation covers the process of creating a 3D digital map of 12th Unnamed Cave, a dark-zone cave art site in Tennessee, that contains over three hundred images. Traditional surveying methods produce 2D maps of cave art sites. While these 2D maps can be useful, they make it difficult to understand the relationship between the cave’s artwork and the artists’ physical experiences of navigating the cave.

A 3D modeling technique known as photogrammetry was utilized to digitally reconstruct the interior of the 12th Unnamed Cave, shedding light on the reasons behind the creation of specific images in various locations within the cave. The 3D model facilitated the measurement of the volume of various chambers, visibility analysis on different images was conducted, and sound data related to the cave’s acoustics were integrated. Findings indicate that the locations of 12th Unnamed Cave’s rock art are by no means random, but likely based on the artists’ experiences of different spaces.

Jordan Schaefer is an archaeologist who specializes in the use of digital technologies to study the past. His archaeological experience spans the Southeast, Midwest, and Mid Atlantic, but his primary research concerns the many cave art sites of the Cumberland Plateau. Jordan received a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Tennessee, where he combined 3D modeling and geographic information systems (GIS) to analyze the rock art within a dark-zone cave in Tennessee. Jordan has also used 3D modeling to examine the techniques used to create artwork in an Alabama cave and applied computer algorithms to aid in their identification. Besides rock art, he has also conducted several ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys of unmarked graves in cemeteries, used GIS to model potential travel routes used by Indigenous peoples in Maryland, and formed predictive models to aid in the management of archaeological resources.