Documenting Material Culture: To touch or not to touch A Close Look at the Object (original) (raw)
Related papers
Documenting Fragile Material through Molding and Casting: Uses for the Archaeological Record
ACUA Underwater Archaeology Newsletter, 2007
Most molding of surface features on artifacts occurs on stable objects that can withstand exposure or pressure exerted on the surface by molding compounds. Unique features on fragile artifacts are usually documented using the traditional methods of drawing and photography, which are limited to a two-dimensional plane. Molding such objects presents a method for three-dimensional documentation that produces more information than conventional techniques. Molding also allows for documentation of inaccessible surfaces, such as features in crevices. Case studies of waterlogged artifacts from the USS Monitor, a Civil War ironclad excavated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and conserved at The Mariners’ Museum, will be used to illustrate techniques and to evaluate compounds.
Lithic Impressions: From Stone to Ink on Paper
LITHIC IMPRESSIONS: From Stone to Ink on Paper, 2018
This book contains a photographic essay entitled 'Through the Half-opened Door' is composed of excerpts from my SOAS PhD thesis on 2nd-3rd century AD cave burials in Southwest China. The publication explores parallel paths of research in archaeology and contemporary art. The publication will be followed by an exhibit entitled 'Lithic Impressions: From Stone to Ink on Paper', an exhibition cum workshop to be held in Palazzo Zen (EMGdotART Foundation), Venice, from October to December 2018. Content: 1. Lithic Impressions 2.Through the Half-Opened Door 3. Medieval Epigraphy 4. Contemporary Practice Foreword: Lithic Impressions: From Stone to Ink on Paper is a collaboration between archaeologist Lia Wei and art historian Zhang Qiang. The project departed from the wish to explore the toolkit of the Chinese antiquarian, especially the technique of full scale replication by rubbing, and to apply its techniques to the stones of Venice. Lithic Impressions stems from earlier collaborative experiments in contemporary ink art and art historical research between Lia Wei and Zhang Qiang. Two major experiments in calligraphic abstraction, entitled ‘Biface Graphy’ and ‘Open Scroll’, were led between the years 2009-2018. In parallel to the gradual growth of this artistic collanboration, between the years 2009 and 2017, Lia Wei and Zhang Qiang have investigated as series of sites dated between the 2nd and the 6th centuries CE, a troubled and culturally fertile period in Chinese history located between the great Han and Tang Empires, often referred to as ‘medieval China’. Two type of sites were investigated: the Eastern Han period cliff tombs (2nd to 3rd century CE) in the canyon and plateau landscape of Sichuan province and the monumental epigraphy of the monk and epigrapher Seng’An Daoyi (562-580 CE) in the mountaineous hinterland of Shandong province. The itineraries covered by the duo’s investigations thus do the splits between the grey limestones of Northeast China and the red sandstone of the Southwest. The duo’s survey both revisited known funerary or epigraphic sites, which are mostly abandoned to decay, and discovered previously unrecorded sites. The technique of rubbing was used to replicate sculptural or architectural elements as well as calligraphic or pictorial traces. Seng’An Daoyi’s epigraphic production, rediscovered in 1996, exploits the natural shape of limestone cliffs in an unprecedented sculptural manner, which we can relate to no followers in the history of calligraphy. Eastern Han period rock-cut reliefs in sandstone reproduce wooden architectural shapes with virtuoso high and low relief effects, the soft and fine-grained rock surface also being a lively record of chisel marks. Both examples of stone working are challenging to replicate into rubbings, and stand on the frontier between two-dimensional and three-dimensional representation. By selecting cultural traces of times and areas of ideological, political, religious and artistic experimentation, Lia Wei and Zhang Qiang hoped to both cast a fresh eye on mainstream history and on the tools traditionally used to investigate and record the Past. Mapping frontier landscapes also meant exploring disciplinary boundaries, and producing an output that would remain in-between existing fields of practice and knowledge. The rubbing process of both Northern Qi and Eastern Han remains by Lia Wei and Zhang Qiang was recorded by photographer and film maker Marie-Françoise Plissart in collaboration with anthropologist and sinologist Françoise Lauwaert in the years 2010 and 2011. The rubbings themselves form a corpus still awaiting publication, for which this exhibition represents a foretaste. Apart from the photographic and video report of survey and the rubbings themselves, research resulted in two monographs: one is devoted to the figure of Seng’An Daoyi and the other one to the funerary landscape of the Upper Yangzi River course, on the Han imperial frontier. To cast a Chinese antiquarian eye on the history of stone carving in Venice, a workshop involving the production of rubbings from Venitian stone reliefs dating from Roman times to the 18th century will be held in the three days following the opening of the exhibit, and will lead to their subsequent display in China. Departing from the exhibit in Palazzo Zen, Venice, Lithic Impressions will travel to Belgium at the occasion of the Ink Art Week in Brussels (6-11th May 2019), where one day will be dedicated to rubbing and antiquarianism.
2023
In this paper, we aim at the enhanced theoretical and methodological application of digital archaeological find processing using 3d-data, augmented and virtual reality, as well as synthetic data, particularly paying attention to the careful handling, virtual reconstruction, and scientific communication of the material culture. A carrot amphora served as an example for our case study: the fragments (partially assembled rim, handle, body, and foot) were excavated in 1973 at the vicus of the auxiliary camp of Augustianis (today Traismauer in Lower Austria/AUT) at the so-called Danube Limes in former Noricum. Three scaled 3d-models of the sub-objects were made using 3d-photogrammetry (image-based modeling/IBM), afterward virtually joined together, and missing parts were added digitally to obtain a complete reconstruction of the amphora. For this purpose, a Nikon DSLR, the proprietary IBM software Agisoft Metashape, and the free and open-source software (FOSS) Blender were used. The platform Sketchfab served as a medium for quick viewing, annotation, and sharing of the 3d-models. Furthermore, polymer 3d-prints were made of the amphora's rim using polylactic acid (PLA) as material and fused deposition modeling (FDM) as a rapid prototyping method. Our approach subsequently discusses the possibilities and limitations of working with such 'synthetic material culture' for daily archaeological work. The availability of multiple 3d-models, rendered images, and 3d-prints provide a real added value for research and science-to-science/public communication. Nevertheless, the total working time of > 8 hours makes the presented method currently not yet comparable to traditional analog find processing in terms of costs. However, the advancing technical development regarding smart devices and mobile apps could lead to the expectation that paper and pencil could soon be replaced by a digital documentation method for processing archaeological artifacts by default.
Thesis, 2020
The analysis of cordage and fabrics from the impressions and markings on pottery has traditionally been conducted by casting the pottery sherds with a plastic or liquid media to make a positive. This positive is then analyzed by measuring attributes under a low-power microscope with calipers. Original Sculpey® is one casting media that has been popular because of its price, accessibility, detail of cast, and permanency of the casts after curing. However, it has been found to impart an organic chemical signature on the sherds, which would bias residue analyses. Further, the plasticizer in Original Sculpey® can soften certain plastics, notably Paraloid B-72, which is often used on pottery as a consolidant. 3D scanning, then, theoretically can be used to create digital representations of the impressions and markings in pottery, while avoiding damage to the sherds and other conservation concerns. The NextEngine 3D laser scanner was tested in the analysis of seven sherds with varying qualities of impressions and markings. Results revealed that the method one uses depends not only on the quality desired and the conservation of the sherd, but also cost, time, and expertise available to the researcher. While the NextEngine itself may not be able to achieve the level of detail needed to match casting methods, the technology can be nonetheless useful for impressed sherd documentation in the near future.