{"id":25,"date":"2020-11-09T18:31:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T18:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidecrane.utoronto.ca\/?p=25"},"modified":"2020-11-11T02:23:42","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T02:23:42","slug":"capturing-the-ancient-world-in-3d-for-research-teaching-and-outreach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidecrane.utoronto.ca\/?p=25","title":{"rendered":"Capturing the ancient world in 3D for research, teaching and outreach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally published at:
https:\/\/www.artsci.utoronto.ca\/news\/capturing-ancient-world-3d-research-teaching-and-outreach<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 2, 2020 by Chris Sasaki – A&S News<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Spence<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Spence Morrow using a scanner at Phnom Mrec in Cambodia.Photo credit: Giles Spence Morrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As director of the Tayinat archaeological project in Turkey,\u00a0Tim Harrison<\/a>\u00a0saw the need and potential for 3D scanning and modelling technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harrison<\/a>, chair of the Faculty of Arts & Science\u2019s Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations<\/a>, has for years conducted research in the region of the Orontes River which flows from Lebanon through Syria and Turkey. Populated continuously for thousands of years, the region\u2019s rich history is reflected in a wealth of archaeological finds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, archaeological finds are rarely uncovered in pristine condition and whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve found thousands of fragments of broken sculptures,\u201d says Harrison. \u201cIt\u2019s like a jigsaw puzzle, but it\u2019s a three-dimensional puzzle and you only have maybe five per cent of the pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo, we became very interested in the development of fast, high-resolution scanning technology that would help generate 3D images that we hope to eventually import into shape-matching software that will help solve these puzzles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3D scanning and modelling that Harrison and his colleagues are doing is accomplished using portable, hand-held scanners that can be used in the field. They are also developing shape-matching software with a team led by Eugene Fiume<\/a>, a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Arts & Science\u2019s Department of Computer Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A 3D model of a statue \u2014 the Lady of Tayinat<\/a> \u2014 from the Tayinat archaeological project. Courtesy of the Tayinat Archeological Project; Tim Harrison; Steve Batiuk.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One goal is to be able to create 3D models of pieces of pottery or statues and rebuild them digitally the way you manually rebuild a broken coffee cup by fitting its pieces together. Another is to identify artifacts such as pieces of pottery by comparing their shape to a database of similar pieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEventually, we also want to compare texture, color, chemistry and minerology,\u201d says Harrison. \u201cThe more layers of information you add, the more patterns and matches you can make. We’re not quite there yet, but that\u2019s the direction we\u2019re headed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to\u00a0Steve Batiuk<\/a>, a senior research associate in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations and a member of the Tayinat team, \u201c3D modeling quite literally introduces a new dimension to our research, providing us with new ways to measure objects, visualize them and help in reconstruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlus, since many of these artifacts can\u2019t leave the countries from which they were excavated, it extends our ability to do research on them beyond the field season and allows others who were not there to work on them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As powerful as it is, the 3D scanning capability is just one tool in the toolkit that Harrison and his colleagues launched in 2011 called the Computational Research on the Ancient Near East or CRANE<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), CRANE was originally conceived as an effort to build a large collaborative environment for different archaeological projects and researchers working mostly in the eastern Mediterranean. At its core are powerful computational tools for modelling ancient social groups, analyzing complex and diverse data sets from those researchers \u2014 and it will even be used to validate climate change models with archaeological data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 3D capability is part of what Harrison refers to as \u201cCRANE 2.0\u201d which was made possible through a partnership grant \u2014 that includes funding from SSHRC and the Faculty of Arts & Science \u2014 to equip the Archaeology Centre\u2019s<\/a> Digital Innovation Lab. With this Faculty support, researchers in other departments can apply this technology to their own realm of the ancient world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The application of 3D scanning to create models of architectural complexes and artifacts has revolutionized our research. It permits continued, detailed analysis long after the close of excavations and on-site laboratory analysis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe technology was purchased by CRANE for CRANE work,\u201d says Batiuk. \u201cBut all archaeologists at U of T  can benefit from us having bolstered the Digital Innovation Lab. This is a spirit of cooperation that CRANE is trying to promote, especially when using University funds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ed Swenson<\/a> is an associate professor in the Department of Anthropology<\/a> and director of the University\u2019s Archaeology Centre. Last winter, Swenson, his former doctoral student Giles Spence Morrow<\/a> \u2014 who is now with the anthropology department of Vanderbilt University \u2014 and other colleagues conducted research at ancient sites from the Angkorian Empire that was based in present-day Cambodia and dominated much of Southeast Asia. The work was supported by a grant from the Hal Jackman Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team surveyed and conducted excavations of religious temples and complexes built near the end of the first millennium CE. They employed traditional archaeological methods and tools in their work, as well as drone cameras. They also used CRANE\u2019s portable scanners to create 3D models of statues, stone monuments and architecture, and to record inscriptions to facilitate translation and share with other researchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of their most remarkable discoveries was of pieces of a statue that was likely a three-metre-tall likeness of a divine figure. The team discovered a base on which were two feet. Nearby they found a shoulder, an arm, part of a leg and the torso. The head was not found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team scanned the pieces and re-assembled both the actual statue and its digital facsimile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe application of 3D scanning to create models of architectural complexes and artifacts has revolutionized our research,\u201d says Swenson. \u201cIt permits continued, detailed analysis long after the close of excavations and on-site laboratory analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn other words, one can literally revisit and restudy sites that are accurately recreated in 3-dimensional simulations. The models also offer an invaluable teaching resource as it allows students to fully experience and analyze virtual archaeological datasets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n