ABSTRACT
Recording ceramic fragments is essential for archaeological interpretation and conservation. When done manually, this task is very time consuming and greatly depends on the experience and skill of the archaeologist in charge. In this paper, we propose the implementation of a 3D acquisition and processing method to improve the accuracy and precision of the recording procedure. During the first step of the proposed process, 3D mesh models of ceramicfragments are obtained using a laser scanner. Subsequently, discrete 3D dynamic contour is utilised to extract points from the fragment's run. Orientation and diameter of the complete vessel are then estimated using a non-linear least square approach. Experiments, using manual techniques, report precision errors (variability) less than 11.97% in the diameter and 3.75% in inclination, whereas the 3D method reports errors of 2.07% and 0.42% for the same measures. Moreover, accuracy experiments report accuracy errors of less than 4.78% in the diameter, and 4.30% in inclination. These results suggest that the 3D method is accurate and more precise and i3.3%faster than the traditional methodology.
