3D Skeletal Digitization as a Tool for Collaborative Artistic Commemoration

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeological Futures through a Virtual Past" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Facial approximation is a salient tool in archaeology that aims to estimate the likeness of past peoples based on historic, anatomical, and artistic evidence. This project used an iterative and community-oriented approach to 2D manual facial approximation for three decedents buried at Rupert’s Valley Burial Ground in St. Helena. Rupert’s Valley is a nineteenth-century enslavement era archaeological site containing the burials of formerly enslaved “Liberated Africans.” This project was conducted in collaboration with St. Helena community partners and artists to create commemorative images for the site following its reburial in 2022. In preliminary planning sessions, an adult man, adult woman, and child from the site were selected for approximation. Based on community feedback, several portraits were created for each decedent to embrace the interpretive nature of the project. The decedents’ skull fragments were 3D surface scanned, and then virtually reconstructed and layered with facial muscles and tissue depth markers in 3D Slicer. These files, historical context images, and a reconstruction guide were shared with the artists to guide their portrait creation. The iterative process of portrait creation has provoked artists and community members to reflect on the sobering nature of the site and its importance as a cultural landmark.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Archaeological Futures through a Virtual Past   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39624.0