Ancient fingerprints from Beit Nattif: studying Late Roman clay impressions on oil lamps and figurines

Lichtenberger, Achim; Moran, Kimberlee

doi:10.15184/aqy.2018.2

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…They do not always answer precise questions of hand identity (Muller 2000b: 41) but have given the most interesting overall results for Late Roman moulded lamps. They confirm the presence of children and women among the moulders (Dzierzykray-Rogalski and Grzeszyk 1991) and make it possible to reproduce precise forming gestures (Lichtenberger and Moran 2018). Finally, epigraphy, with the study of signatures, opens up extremely interesting perspectives.…”

Section: Workhops and Craftsmenmentioning

confidence: 66%

Coroplastic studies: what’s new?

Müller¹

2018

Arch. Rep.

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This overview discusses the recent scholarly literature on Greek terracottas of the first millennium BC. Figurative terracottas, once seen as meaningless trinkets, are now given their full meaning through rigorous study and anthropological approaches. Perhaps the most explicit and universal source on the piety of a great number of people, they now contribute decisively to the archaeology of religion, particularly in the field of votive and funerary practices. At the same time, research on figurative terracottas, renewed by a technological approach, reveals a craft that is surprisingly modern in its manufacturing and distribution processes.

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Section: Workhops and Craftsmenmentioning

confidence: 66%

Coroplastic studies: what’s new?

Müller¹

2018

Arch. Rep.

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“…Fingerprints play a central role in any sector where person authentication is required; in fingerprint-based biometrics, enormous advances have been accomplished from imaging acquisition technologies to feature extraction methods. In cultural heritage, the interest to identify the makers of artifacts based on left fingerprints is tangible [16,17,32,44]. However, given that fingerprint-based research in the cultural heritage community has not been explored to its full potential, we believe that it can further expand and use some materials and methods investigated in other related fields.…”

Section: Discussion and Future Research Avenuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, Kantner et al [32] study the sex-based labor division based on ceramic sherds acquired with a stereo microscope and a high-resolution camera. The work of Lichtenberger and Moran [44] investigates the ancient fingerprints detected on Late Roman oil lamps and figurines. The 2-D fingerprint images are used to locate the minutiae across multiple and distinct clay items.…”

Section: Imaging Systems For Ancient Fingerprints Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In particular, the matching is challenging due to fragmentary and overlapping fingerprints, and their degradation level. Nevertheless, evidence shows that fingerprints impressions can be preserved extraordinarily well and a peculiar ridge pattern is visible at naked eye [44], thus leading the authors to identify a single producer. • Who was the producer?…”

Section: Did Michelangelo Model the Sculpture?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Study of Three-Dimensional Fingerprint Recognition in Cultural Heritage

Sero

Garachon

Hermens

et al. 2021

J. Comput. Cult. Herit.

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Fingerprints play a central role in any field where person identification is required. In forensics and biometrics, three-dimensional fingerprint-based imaging technologies, and corresponding recognition methods, have been vastly investigated. In cultural heritage, preliminary studies provide evidence that the three-dimensional impressions left on objects from the past (ancient fingerprints) are of paramount relevance to understand the socio-cultural systems of former societies, to possibly identify a single producer of multiple potteries, and to authenticate the artist of a sculpture. These findings suggest that the study of ancient fingerprints can be further investigated and open new avenues of research. However, the potential for capturing and analyzing ancient fingerprints is still largely unexplored in the context of cultural heritage research. In fact, most of the existing studies have focused on plane fingerprint representations and commercial software for image processing. Our aim is to outline the opportunities and challenges of digital fingerprint recognition in answering a range of questions in cultural heritage research. Therefore, we summarize the fingerprint-based imaging technologies, reconstruction methods, and analyses used in biometrics that could be beneficial to the study of ancient fingerprints in cultural heritage. In addition, we analyze the works conducted on ancient fingerprints from potteries and ceramic/fired clay sculptures. We conclude with a discussion on the open challenges and future works that could initiate novel strategies for ancient fingerprint acquisition, digitization, and processing within the cultural heritage community.

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“…Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Science Park 123, Amsterdam 1098 XG, Netherlands 2. Conservation & Science, Rijksmuseum, Hobbemastraat 22, Amsterdam 1071 ZC, Netherlands 3. Hamilton Kerr Institute & Conservation and Science Division, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK 4.…”

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confidence: 99%

Artist profiling using micro-CT scanning of a Rijksmuseum terracotta sculpture

Sero,

Garachon,

Hermens

et al. 2023

Sci. Adv.

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In the fine arts, impressions found on terracotta sculptures in museum collections are scarcely reported and not in a systematic manner. Here, we present a procedure for scanning fingermarks and toolmarks found on the visible surface and inner walls of a terracotta sculpture using 3D micro–computed tomography, as well as methods for quantitatively characterizing these impressions. We apply our pipeline on the terracotta sculpture Study for a Hovering Putto , attributed to Laurent Delvaux and housed in the Rijksmuseum collection. On the basis of combined archaeology and forensics research that assigns age groups to makers of European ancestry from ridge breadth values, we estimate that the fingermarks belong to an adult male. Given that each fingerprint is unique and the carving tools were exclusively made in the artist’s workshop, we give incentive to aim for artist profiling using innovative computational approaches on preserved impressions from terracotta sculptures.

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Ancient fingerprints from Beit Nattif: studying Late Roman clay impressions on oil lamps and figurines

Cited by 8 publications

References 4 publications

Coroplastic studies: what’s new?

Coroplastic studies: what’s new?

The Study of Three-Dimensional Fingerprint Recognition in Cultural Heritage

Artist profiling using micro-CT scanning of a Rijksmuseum terracotta sculpture

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