Simulation of tallow lamp light within the 3D model of the Ardales Cave, Spain

The observation and analysis of caves and cave art enables to structure caves into different zones of use and simulations allow to estimate past living conditions. Nowadays, different remote sensing methods are used to document and analyse caves in 3D and high resolution. In this contribution, the virtual 3D model of the Ardales Cave in southern Spain derived by terrestrial laser scanning was employed for light distribution simulations. This cave shows hundreds of prehistoric images. At three different locations of tallow lamps, authentic light distribution simulations were conducted. The lighting simulation follows recent standards of global illumination by path tracing implemented by using the open-source software Blender. The results fit to previous findings and show the accuracy of this new approach. The results are combined with other metrics in order to quantify different areas in this cave. The study reveals that additional lamps seem to be necessary in order to allow decoration of the cave walls. In general, the open-source approach allows further implementations of other light sources and corresponding adjustments.