Computer-assisted reconstruction of virtual fragmented cuneiform tablets

Automated Low-Cost Photogrammetric Acquisition of 3D Models from Small Form-Factor Artefacts

“…The open source Clustering Views for Multi-View Stereo (CMVS) algorithm [34,35] is used to reconstruct a dense 3D point-cloud from each set of photographs. The point density (typically between 100 and 300 points per square millimetre) is sufficient to resolve the features of the impressed cuneiform script and has proven more than adequate for the purpose of matching fragmented tablets [11]. There are other dense point-cloud reconstruction applications available, but CMVS was chosen for our application because it is free, has a well-documented command line interface making it easily automated, and produced comparable results, in our tests, to commonly recommended alternatives such as Photoscan by Agisoft (St. Petersburg, Russia) [36].…”

“…Virtual reconstruction of the tablets obviates issues such as geographical distance as well as practical issues concerning the necessarily limited accessibility and the physical fragility of the fragments [10]. It also makes possible the use of computer-automated matching tools [11].…”

Computational aspects of model acquisition and join geometry for the virtual reconstruction of the atrahasis cuneiform tablet

“…The overall project aim of virtual cuneiform tablet reconstruction [6] has been investigated using an online collaborative crowd-sourced approach [17], [18] as well as an automated joining process [8]. The automated process was used for the Atrahasis fragments because it reliably ensures that the optimal matching orientation is found and also yields statistics indicating the goodness of the fit.…”

“…A piecewise linear mapping function is used to calculate the cost of candidate orientations and displacements. This mapping function helps to ensure that the correct optimal orientation is found even when the two fragment faces are incomplete and eroded [8]. The best result from these matching attempts is saved and presented as the result for human-expert verification.…”

“…As part of the Virtual Cuneiform Tablet Reconstruction Project, [6], [7] virtual reconstructions have been reported for, typically, small form factor tablet fragments collocated within individual collections [8], [9]. This paper provides an account of the computational aspects of model acquisition and join geometry for the virtual reconstruction of fragments of a different form factor, in different collections, located in different countries.…”