Does New Equipment Matter? An Assessment of Photogrammetric Documentation from Archaeological Research Conducted at Wawel Royal Castle in Years 2023–2024

The study focuses on the analysis of photogrammetric documentation collected during archaeological field research at the Wawel Royal Castle in the excavation areas XIV, VII and VIII. The research dataset consists of photographs taken under different conditions. The documentation was taken with different types of equipment, including smartphones, DSLR cameras, and drones. The collected photographic material was processed with Agisoft Metashape software. The obtained parameters were then analysed using R-Studio program. The outcomes show that the quality parameters varied significantly between various devices, revealing statistically significant variations. Additionally, the subjective selection of equipment for documentation did not always correspond with the achieved results. We suggest that a modern device, such as a smartphone, may serve as a viable alternative for documenting urban archaeological sites. However, the quality of field documentation is highly dependent on both the optical properties of the device and the photographer‘s skills.