The 3D annotated scans method: a new approach to ship timber recording (original) (raw)

Integrating digital and conventional recording techniques for the documentation and reconstruction of an 18th-Century wooden ship from Alexandria, VA

Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, 2020

An 18th-century wooden ship discovered on the waterfront of Alexandria, Virginia was documented and modelled using laser scanning, computer modelling, 3D printing, traditional lines drawings, and wooden ship modelling techniques. This combination of new technologies and traditional ship documentation methods allowed researchers to capture the details of the ship remains with extremely high accuracy. The models of the timbers were then 3D printed, reassembled, and incorporated into an interpretive wire frame model that contextualized the remains of the ship with what it would have looked like whole.

Potentialities of 3D Reconstruction in Maritime Archaeology

During excavation and documentation of a site many factors affect the choice of the type of technical documentation: features of the evidence, soil properties and the depth of the shipwreck. We describe three research projects to show how 3D reconstruction can be the final step of different types of documentations: 3D photogrammetry, 2D drawings and 3D trilaterations. 3D reconstruction is the best type of documentation, because it allows us to optimize time and work during excavation, and to obtain complete data for post-excavation study. We have to evaluate the potential for innovation and new prospect for research and study of this methodology for technical documentation. Furthermore, the 3D model allows us to better record and represent the position of the cargo or the wooden hull; and at the same time it offers an attractive display for the public, who can better appreciate the archaeological evidence.

Three-Dimensional Recording and Digital Modeling of the Newport Medieval Ship

The mid 15th-century clinker-built Newport Medieval Ship is the most comprehensively and accurately recorded ship find in the United Kingdom. Using three-dimensional contact digitizers and non-contact laser scanners, archaeologists have created digital records of the thousands of timbers comprising the hull. Using Rhinoceros software , these records are now being used in innovative ways, including the creation of digital solid models and the manufacture of physical solid models using selective laser sintering manufacturing technology. These solid models are being assembled, analyzed, and manipulated in an effort to determine the original hull form.

DIGITAL SURVEY TECHNIQUES FOR THE DOCUMENTATION OF WOODEN SHIPWRECKS

Nowadays, researchers widely employ the acquisition of point clouds as one of the principal type of documentation for cultural heritage. In this paper, different digital survey techniques are employed to document a wooden ancient shipwreck, a particular and difficult kind of archaeological finding due to its material characteristics. The instability of wood and the high costs of restoration do not always offer the opportunity of recovering and showing the hull to researchers and public and three-dimensional surveys are fundamental to document the original conditions of the wood. The precarious conditions of this material in contact with air could modify the structure and the size of the boat, requiring a fast and accurate recording technique. The collaboration between Ca' Foscari University and the Laboratory of Photogrammetry of Iuav University of Venice has given the possibility to demonstrate the utility of these technology. We have surveyed a sewn boat of Roman age through multi-image photogrammetry and laser scanner. Point clouds were compared and a residual analysis was done, to verify the characteristics and the opportunity of the two techniques, both of them have allowed obtaining a very precise documentation from a metrical point of view.

3D Technologies for the Digital Documentation of an Ancient Wooden Structure

International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era, 2014

In this paper we would like to present an operational procedure for surveys of complex structures, such as the wooden dome of SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice. The aim of this work was to analyse the shape and the geometry of this very articulated constructive technique: because of its complexity, a laser scanning survey, with the support of more traditional methods, such as direct and topographic survey, seemed to be the best way to analyse this structure: from the data elaboration it was possible to create a 3D model of each element as in reality, without any simplification. In line with the growing demand of digital documentation in the field of Cultural Heritage, the 3D technology applied to this research allowed an immediate reading of the whole architectural system. This paper analyses the difficulties encountered during the survey and illustrates the solutions chosen to overcome them.

From Ship to Kindling to Ship: The Digital Reconstruction of the Royal Savage Timber Assemblage

New Life for Archaeological Collections, 2019

Royal Savage is an important physical link to one of the seminal events of early U.S. Revolutionary War history. This importance drew the attention of an interested public long before archaeological science and ethics were advanced enough to provide for the long-term preservation of the hull and its artifacts. The result was a collection of disassociated timbers and artifacts that several institutions wanted to own, but which never received the interpretation they deserved. Now, using state-of-the-art three-dimensional imaging technology, it is possible to regain some of the information that was lost. In addition to contributing to the generation of a timber catalog, 3d documentation of the Royal Savage timbers via laser scanning and photogrammetry provides a visually appealing, permanent, and versatile record of the physical characteristics of the ship's remains. The resulting digital models are permanent in that, as visual reproductions, and if stored and managed appropriately, they will remain impervious to the physical decay to which the actual remains of the ship have and will continue to be subjected. As such, they will also remain available to continued and varied analyses to which the physical remains cannot be subjected, both as individual timbers and, when digitally reconstructed, as a partially intact hull.