A texture based approach to reconstruction of archaeological finds

Reconstruction of archaeological finds from fragments, is a tedious task requiring many hours of work from the archaeologists and restoration personnel. In this paper we present a framework for the full reconstruction of the original objects using texture and surface design information on the sherd. The texture of a band outside the border of pieces is predicted by inpainting and texture synthesis methods. The confidence of this process is also defined. Feature values are derived from these original and predicted images of pieces. A combination of the feature and confidence values is used to generate an affinity measure of corresponding pieces. The optimization of total affinity gives the best assembly of the piece. Experimental results are presented on real and artificial data

Optimization for automated assembly of puzzles

The puzzle assembly problem has many application areas such as restoration and reconstruction of archeological findings, repairing of broken objects, solving jigsaw type puzzles, molecular docking problem, etc. The puzzle pieces usually include not only geometrical shape information but also visual information such as texture, color, and continuity of lines. This paper presents a new approach to the puzzle assembly problem that is based on using textural features and geometrical constraints. The texture of a band outside the border of pieces is predicted by inpainting and texture synthesis methods. Feature values are derived from these original and predicted images of pieces. An affinity measure of corresponding pieces is defined and alignment of the puzzle pieces is formulated as an optimization problem where the optimum assembly of the pieces is achieved by maximizing the total affinity measure. An fft based image registration technique is used to speed up the alignment of the pieces. Experimental results are presented on real and artificial data sets

3D Acquisition of Archaeological Ceramics and Web-Based 3D Data Storage

Motivated by the requirements of modern archaeology, we are developing an automated system for archaeological classification and reconstruction of ceramics. The goal is to create a tool that satisfies the criteria of accuracy, performance (findings/hour), robustness, transportability, overall costs, and careful handling of the findings. Following our previous work, we present new achievements on the documentation steps for 3D acquisition, 3D data processing, and 3D reconstruction. We have improved our system so that it can handle large quantities of ceramic fragments efficiently and computes a more robust orientation of a fragment. In order to store the sherd data acquired and hold all the information necessary to reconstruct a complete vessel, a database for archaeological fragments was developed. We will demonstrate practical experiments and results undertaken onsite at different excavations in Israel and Peru

Semiautomatic fragments matching and virtual reconstruction: a case study on ceramics

Artefacts' reconstruction is a fundamental part of conservation and one of the most common remedial conservation activities with great contribution to archaeological research. The manual procedure for fragments' matching is a painstaking, time- and space-consuming operation. As a result the development of working methodologies for digital refitting of fragments is of fundamental importance for archaeological research and conservation practice. This study presents a comparative analysis of manual and digital reconstruction, which has never been explored even if computer scientists have achieved many developments in the field of digital refitting. Results indicate the parallels between manual and digital processes in terms of durability, integrity and practicality. Also, in order to provide methodological directions to conservators, three different semi-automatic fragments matching approaches based on their effectiveness in managing the project and alignment of fragments were used A combined strategy, making use of different pieces of software, is recommended. In addition, the modelling techniques for digital restoration were described along with the uses of the virtually restored artefact. Faenza maiolica, black-glazed, Gnathian and coarse ware ceramics were used as case studies

Digitalización y reconstrucción de elementos cerámicos arqueológicos de torno

[ES] La digitalización y reconstrucción de piezas cerámicas de revolución a partir de los fragmentos encontrados en el yacimiento ha sido objeto de un desarrollo exhaustivo en la última década. Diversos estudios han demostrado la enorme variabilidad en los resultados obtenidos por el proceso puramente manual, lo que puede llevar en la mayoría de los casos a una deficiente clasificación tipológica del perfil. Además, tras la orientación del fragmento en cuestión, el documento final suele ser un dibujo bidimensional con ciertas medidas y un estilo no siempre estandarizado. En este artículo presentamos un repaso de las técnicas desarrolladas y planteamos algunas cuestiones y retos que aún quedan por resolver.[EN] Many researchers have dealt during last decade about digitizing and reconstructing hand made pottery elements from fragments retrieved in the archaeological excavations. Some studies have demonstrated the huge variability in results from manual processes, which usually leads into a wrong typological classification of the profile. Moreover, after orienting the fragment, the final document is usually a bi-dimensional picture displaying several measurements and without any well defined standard with respect to appearance. In this paper we present a survey of those techniques that have been developed by our group and we raise some questions and challenges that still have to be solved.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por el proyecto de Excelencia de la Junta de Andalucía TIC-401 y el proyecto del investigación TIN2007-67474-C03-02 del Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia y Fondos FEDER.Melero, FJ.; León, A.; Torres, JC. (2010). Digitalización y reconstrucción de elementos cerámicos arqueológicos de torno. Virtual Archaeology Review. 1(2):137-141. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2010.4716OJS13714112BERNARDINI, Fausto y RUSHMEIER, Holly (2002): "The 3D Model Acquisition Pipeline". En Computer Graphics Forum, no 21, vol. 2, pp. 49-172.CISA3 (2009) "The Digital Pottery Informatics" project, Center of Interdisciplinary Science for Art, Architecture and Archaeology (CISA3), Univ. California [online] http://cisa3.calit2.net/ [Consulta 01-04-2009]FARO TECH.Inc. (2009). Faro Laser Scan + Arm, [online] http://www.faro.com [Consulta 01-04-2009]HERITAGE 3D (2007), "3D Laser Scanning for Heritage" [online] http://www.heritage3d.org [Consulta: 01/04/2009]KAMPEL, Martin (2000): "Computer Aided Classification of Ceramics", en Proceedings of the 1st International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage, VAST 2000KAMPEL, Martin y SABLATNIG, Robert (2003): "Profile based pottery reconstruction". En "Proc. Of IEEE/CVPR Workshop on Applications of Computer Vision in Archaeology".KAMPEL Martin, MARA Hubert., SABLATNIG Robert (2006)., "Automated Investigation of Archaeological Vessels", en: M. Luise, (Ed.), Proc. of EUSIPCO2006: 13th European Signal Processing ConferenceKARASIK, A., y SMILANSKY, U. (2008). "3D Scanning Technology as a Standard Archaeological Tool for Pottery Analysis: Practice and Theory". Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol. 35, 1148--1168. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2007.08.008KONICA MINOLTA (2009), Minolta Vivid 910 [online] http://www.minolta3d.com [Consulta 01-04-2009]LEONARDI G. y PENELLO G. (1991): "Il disegno archeologico della ceramica" en Saltuarie dal Laboratorio del Piorego, 2.MARA Hubert (2005), "Automated 3D-Scanning & Analysis of Archaeological Objects", en Proc. of Modeling, Interface and Control (MIC/IASTED), Innsbruck, Austria..MELERO Fco. Javier, et al. (2003): "On the Interactive Reconstruction of Iberian Vessels", I Eurographics Workshop on Graphics and Cultural Heritage, VAST'03, Brighton (UK)POLLEFEYS, Marc et al. (2001). "Image-based 3d acquisition of archeological heritage and applications", en Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage, VAST 2001, pp 255-261POLLEFEYS, Marc et al. (2003), "3D Capture of Archaeology and Architecture with a Hand-Held Camera", en Proceedings of the ISPRS workshop on Vision Techniques for Digital Architectural and Archaeological Archives, The International Archive of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol. XXXIV, Part 5/W12, pp. 262--267RAMOS, Beatriz y MELERO, Fco. Javier. (2009) "Automatic pen-and-ink drawings of 3D archaeological objects", Computer Applications in Archaeology 2009, Williamsburg (USA).ROLAND IBERIA S.A. (2008), Escaner laser LPX-6000 Series [online] http://www.rolanddgiberia.com/ , [Consulta: 1-04-2009]