3D Laser Scanning at Aigai, Vergina, Greece

Supporting Archaeological Research at a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In July 2026, the Hellenic Archaeological Exploration Society joined Ilios Remote Sensing and Norsk Remote Sensing in supporting archaeological research at the ancient city of Aigai in northern Greece.

Working in support of an archaeological excavation conducted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the team used terrestrial laser scanning to create detailed three-dimensional documentation of the active excavation.

Aigai was the first capital of the ancient Macedonian kingdom and is one of Greece's most important archaeological sites. The archaeological site of Aigai is inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The project demonstrates how nonprofit organizations, universities, and industry partners can work together to bring advanced reality-capture technology directly into archaeological research.

Technology in Support of Archaeology

Documenting an Active Excavation in Three Dimensions

Archaeological excavation is inherently destructive.

As archaeologists excavate through successive layers, the site changes. Features are exposed, material is removed, and relationships that existed at one stage of the excavation may no longer be physically present at a later stage.

Three-dimensional laser scanning provides a way to create a highly detailed geometric record of the excavation at a particular moment in time.

At Aigai, terrestrial laser scanning was used to document the excavation in three dimensions, preserving the geometry and spatial relationships of archaeological features for future study.

The resulting point-cloud data can be measured, examined, compared with future surveys, and used as a digital record long after fieldwork has ended.

Excavation changes the site. Three-dimensional documentation preserves a record of what was there.

Creating a Repeatable Record

Returning to the Same Site Over Time

One of the objectives of the Aigai project is not simply to document the excavation once, but to establish a methodology that can support future documentation.

Reference points were established so that future laser-scanning campaigns can be aligned with previous datasets.

This creates the possibility of documenting the excavation at different stages and comparing those datasets over time.

As archaeological work progresses, successive three-dimensional records can help preserve a digital chronology of the excavation and provide researchers with measurable information about features that may later be altered, covered, removed, or further excavated.

Instead of documenting only where the excavation ends, we can help preserve a record of how it developed.

Collaboration

Archaeologists Define the Research. Technology Supports It.

The archaeological research at Aigai is conducted by Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.

HAES and its industry partners support that research by providing specialized technology, equipment, technical expertise, data acquisition, and processing.

This distinction is important.

Our role is not to conduct archaeology independently. Our role is to place advanced technical capabilities in the hands of the archaeologists and institutions responsible for the research.

The archaeologists determine what questions need to be answered. Our job is to help provide tools capable of collecting useful information.

Industry Partners Supporting Research

Ilios Remote Sensing & Norsk Remote Sensing

The Aigai project demonstrates the model HAES was created to facilitate. Commercial reality-capture companies possess specialized equipment and expertise that can be expensive for universities, museums, archaeological organizations, and nonprofit institutions to maintain internally. Through collaboration, those capabilities can be made available to research and cultural-heritage projects.

Ilios Remote Sensing provided terrestrial laser-scanning equipment, fieldwork, and reality-capture support. Norsk Remote Sensing contributed additional laser-scanning expertise and experience in cultural-heritage documentation.

For Norsk Remote Sensing's Jerry Dawson, Aigai represents his second UNESCO World Heritage Site documentation project, following previous work at Qal'at al-Bahrain (Bahrain Fort).

Industry provides the technology. Researchers determine how it can best serve the archaeology.