Three-Dimensional Scanning and Printing in Undergraduate Archaeology Education

Summary

Three-dimensional imaging is a quickly growing part of archaeological documentation, investigation, education, and public outreach. Cost and expertise barriers to using 3D software and equipment continue to drop. Nonetheless, many efforts in 3D archaeology are driven by graduate students or focused undergraduates who become part of dedicated 3D laboratories or projects. Since 2013, we have been working with a different approach of incorporating three-dimensional imaging and printing at the general undergraduate level. Students in an Introduction to Archaeology course are utilizing 3D scanning and printing as a routine part of term papers, while students in a course on archaeology and art cooperated to document artifacts for planned online exhibits. Unsurprisingly, these efforts have generated interest in archaeology, though not uniformly. Faculty time to guide novice students through the use of the equipment and software is a drawback at this scale, though in many cases this leads to greater student engagement with their project and the course. The growing use of 3D technology in archaeology suggests that it must eventually become a part of undergraduate education, with the nature of that education becoming an important question.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Crowdsourcing, Co-Creation, and Collaboration through Virtual Curation   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage