This week we looked at photogrammetry and 3D modeling. I’m very fond of photogrammetry as an archaeology student and so this week was quite fun for me. We were tasked with creating a photogrammetry model of an object from the Archives, using the apps Scaniverse and Polycam. I’m quite familiar with both of these apps having used them for my final project in the methods archaeology course, and so I was mostly trying to advise my groupmates on what worked for me back then. We were working on the Bobblehead of Steve Lewis, a former college president, that was meant for his retirement party.
The big thing for me about photogrammetry and 3D modeling cultural heritage items that has changed since I completed my final project is that while yes, 3D models are cool to have, but that the accessibility they provide to these objects is invaluable. Objects are not just objects, they’re imbued with cultural meaning, history, design, and the people that made them. By not digitizing eligible artifacts I feel as if we’re doing a disservice to the people that made them. Maybe that seems to be quite a large leap, but if these items aren’t available to be studied, interacted with, reinterpreted, and are just kept in a storage room or a far off museum, are we doing the people who made them justice? To me it feels a bit like the old saying of “if a tree falls in the forest and no one’s around to hear it, did it really fall?”. If these objects have no one to witness and interact with them, then do they really have a purpose besides taking up space? I’m not sure they do.
Another big thing that these scans allow us to do is super close looking from greater physical distances. I was writing a paper in my senior year of high school about the Cerutti Mastodon possible-archaeological/paleontological site, and I stumbled upon 3D scans that were taken by the University of Michigan. These allowed me to look closer at the bones and alleged hammerstones myself. The contention of the site is if the Mastodon was killed by humans or if the bones were broken in a natural way, oh and also that it’s in the Americas and dates to about 130 kya, or about 100,000 years before some of the earliest human sites in the Americas.
This screenshot of the scan clearly shows the break pattern of one of the bones, and allowed me to visualize the conditions of the site and look at the interpretation with a clearer and more informed eye. If I hadn’t had these scans I would’ve had to rely on the photos and drawings which don’t give the same perspective, especially of the spiral breaks in other bones, I may have made different conclusions.
4 thoughts on “Blog Week 5- Photogrammetry”
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Well done, Sam. I appreciate the connections you make between our digital humanities class project and your archeology experience. Yes! There is so much valuable exploration we can achieve through digitization—not only of Carleton affiliated bobble heads but of bones and civilizations, there is an abundance of artifacts we can learn from.
Hi Sam! I found your perspective on the accessibility that digitization provides very interesting. I agree that making 3D models like these allows a greater audience of people to connect with the cultural content and draw their own understandings. The blending of the humanities and digitization in this instance is so intuitive and inclusive!
Hi Sam! I really appreciate your insight into photogrammetry since you are someone who has more experience with it as an archaeology student. I was moved by how much value you put into the digitization process. You’re completely correct that photogrammetry makes objects accessible, and in turn makes the transfer of knowledge about different cultures, histories, and sociological interactions accessible as well!
I really liked how you described your perspective on making 3D models available — it helped me better understand why they are so widely used, and why people believe they’re so important! I also thought your anecdote about the mastodon bone was a super clear example of how researchers use these resources every day. Thanks for your perspective!