Growing images: generating 3D digital models to investigate archaeological Moriori carvings on live trees

A reassessment of settlement patterns and subsistence at Point Durham, Chatham Island

“…Recent archaeological investigations on Rēkohu are described in detail elsewhere (Barber & Maxwell , ; Barber et al . 2014, n.d.; Maxwell ) and are summarised here briefly to provide a context for reassessment of the Point Durham material. Nine middens located in three broadleaved forests on the north‐east coast (Kaingaroa covenant, Kairae reserve and Taia Historic Reserve; Figure ) were excavated, in part to investigate the importance of terrestrial plants in Moriori subsistence.…”

“…The recent archaeological research on Rēkohu (Barber & Maxwell , ; Barber et al . ; Maxwell ) has examined sites along the eastern and northern coasts of the island, and indicates that both settlement and subsistence patterns there diverge from the orthodox model (see below). In addition, it has examined Moriori use of the kōpi (in New Zealand, karaka) tree Corynocarpus laevigatus.…”

The Race to Document Archaeological Sites Ahead of Rising Sea Levels: Recent Applications of Geospatial Technologies in the Archaeology of Polynesia

“…Examples can be seen as photorealistic meshes that can easily be annotated with interpretive text and accessed online ( Figure 10). One particularly challenging feature to document and preserve for archaeologists are the tree carvings of the Chatham Islands [59]. Known by the technical term dendroglyphs (tree images), these carvings are only located in a few coastal stands of trees ( Figure 11).…”

“…The volume of these sections, along with details in local history about the site's construction history, were used to make labor estimates. More recently, earthquake damage to the site was followed by a reconstruction that was carefully One particularly challenging feature to document and preserve for archaeologists are the tree carvings of the Chatham Islands [59]. Known by the technical term dendroglyphs (tree images), these carvings are only located in a few coastal stands of trees ( Figure 11).…”

Multi-scale 3D rock-art recording

“…Alexander, 2011;Harrower et al, 2014;Knabb et al, 2014;Lambers et al, 2007;Robinson, 2006;Romero & Bray, 2014), and individual pieces, often at highly detailed, sub-millimetre scale (see e.g. Barber et al, 2014;Domingo et al, 2013;Gonzalez-Aguilera et al, 2011;Grosman et al, 2008). In terms of technological and algorithmic development, many solutions available today can be considered to be quite mature and there are reasonably standard workflows and processing pipelines for 3D surveying, 30 site reconstruction, and the documentation of objects.…”