Object Photogrammetry at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology: Opportunities and Challenges

Summary

The growth in object photogrammetry standards and techniques offers new opportunities for university museums concerned with collections care, research, education, and public engagement. The Phoebe Hearst Museum’s global collection of 3.8 million objects spanning two million years and six continents presents an ideal context in which to explore such opportunities and work through interesting challenges. This paper describes how UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students are collaborating on projects to document key objects in the Hearst’s collection. One case-study explores how several Egyptian sarcophagi were documented using structure-from-motion techniques. This work not only created much-needed digital images of these objects for the Museum’s accession records, but also facilitated a careful scholarly study of the epigraphic evidence found on each object. These models are also available for use in Berkeley classes. These models as well as others built from the collection’s African, South American, and North American collections can be experienced in the Museum’s public gallery through the recently installed 3D CAVEkiosk. The paper will describe visitor feedback on the use of the CAVEkiosk and their impressions of the different object models. The paper concludes with a discussion of the opportunities and challenges of conducting photogrammetry work in complex museum collections.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20515