Immaterial data and material culture; Surveying and modelling the New Kingdom tombs of Saqqara

In 2018 the Dutch-Italian Mission to Saqqara of Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden and Museo Egizio Torino, in collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano, started using digital imaging to document the mission’s concession, the cluster of New Kingdom tombs located to the south of Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara.1 The 2019 season saw a refinement and an increase of the survey activities, as well as a more effective integration of digital tools and methods into the archaeological workflow. Photogrammetry is being used to progressively survey in three dimensions both the exposed tombs excavated in the recent past and to document the ongoing excavation, producing results in three fields: documentation, dissemination and research, deeply intertwined with one another.