3D Printing and Scanning Artifacts: A Means of Public Engagement

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Digging Deeper: Pushing Ourselves to Engage the Public in Our Shared Heritage through Outreach and Education" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

3D printing and scanning technologies may have progressed to a level where the interested public can start to affordably engage with agency archaeologists and artifacts in a new way. Simple 3D scanning applications for smartphones now allow for rendering print files of small objects such as projectile points in a completely unobtrusive way. Artifacts that members of the public find can be recorded and re-created using easy-to-operate 3D resin printers without leaving the location they were found. This means a physical connection for the public to the artifacts that they find without the removal of important data. This technology can also be useful in creating inexpensive teaching aids that everyone can safely interact with. In the near future, it will be possible for someone to contact their local archaeologist send them photos and a scan along with an artifact’s pertinent information, and in return receive a replica that they can share and cherish while learning about the artifact and its importance. 3D technologies can give archaeologists the means of physically connecting the public to the artifacts they find without removing artifacts from the landscape.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Digging Deeper: Pushing Ourselves to Engage the Public in Our Shared Heritage through Outreach and Education   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37289.0