Virtual recovery of excavated archaeological finds

This work aims at a virtual recovery of excavated archaeological finds in cyberspace for ancient relic preservation, archaeology research, and multimedia material generation. Many excavated pottery artifacts have already suffered from a certain degree of damage when they are discovered. Archaeologists have to spend much time in restoring broken pieces before an unearthed object can be displayed to audiences. This work introduces a new application of computer vision, graphics and virtual reality in archaeology. First we develop an imaging device to digitize damaged pieces in the form of 3D shape and surface texture. Then we build an interface for connecting broken fragments in virtual space so that the original model can be visually recovered. The idea of virtual recovery provides a new opportunity and flexibility for archaeologists to examine complex relics. Moreover, the virtually recovered objects can be directly displayed in a multimedia format, e.g., a virtual museum accessed via Internet or with a CD-ROM.