Homo georgicus

One of the main attractions of the open source exhibition "Facce. I molti volti della storia umana"[1] is the facial reconstruction of four of the five individuals found in the Dmanisi (Georgia) excavation [2] and currently known as Homo georgicus. This project was possible thanks to the kindness of Prof. David Lordkipanidze (of the Georgian National Museum) and to the precious help of our friend Dr. Zviad Sherazadishvili.

The particular feature that characterized the facial reconstructions of the specimens of H. gerogicus is that each skull has some peculiarities that make it unique compared to the other subjects of the same species so far recognized. Moreover these differences are due both to sex, both to age and both to individual physiognomy. Indeed the five skulls of Dmanisi represent a wide range of variables, with at least a female specimen, two males with different individual characteristics (one with a pronounced undershot), an old subject and a young one (unfortunately impossible to reconstruct due to the missing facial part of the cranium).

The forensic reconstruction, performed with the anatomical deformation methodology [3], amplifies these differences, giving a face to our ancestors and simplifying at the same time the perception of the peculiarities which characterize the four specimens, at least for those people who are not familiar with anthropology and osteometry (like most of the visitors of the exposition). 

According to the main purpose of the open source exhibition (sharing as open data all the material we produced), today I am uploading the result of these reconstructions on Wikimedia Commons with a CC-BY license. Here below you can see the four images developed, like always, with a team work. This time the equipe was composed by Nicola Carrara (Anthropological Museum of the University of Padua) and Luca Bezzi (Arc-Team), for the 3D scan with SfM and MVSR techniques [4]; Cícero Moraes (Arc-Team), for the facial reconstruction with Blender; Telmo Pievani for the final validation (University of Padua, Biology Department).

The first  male subject

The old subject

The female subject

The second male subject (with pronounced undershot)

Webography

[1] FaceBook, ATOR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
[2] ATOR 1

[3] ATOR 1, 2
[4] ATOR 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

3D printing for Cultural Heritage

As many of you know,

since last year we are working on the preparation of the open source exhibition "FACCE. I molti volti della storia umana" (here some news in ATOR: 1, 2 and here the official page and the FB page). Of course all the software we are using are Free and Open (FLOSS), but for some particular exhibits, we are working also with open hardware.

Our interest in this specific topic dates back to 2006, when we started investigating the potentialities of open hardware in archeology, especially in the field of aerial photography e rapid prototyping. We get the first results in 2008, with our UAVP prototype (here some news from ATOR: 1, 2) an all the other UAV we built (KK, etc...).

For the exhibition the main open hardware we used are 3D printing machines. We experienced different solutions: +Leonardo Zampi printed the 3D model of the Taung Child thanks to the Kentstrapper machines, an ideal choice if you want an hardware which is ready to work out of the box (here the related articles: 1, 2)...

The Taung Child printed in the Volta printer (Kentstrapper)

... and we build our own device from the scratch, a Fa)(a 3D, thanks to +Giacomo Falaschi  and +silvio tassinari , of Roma Makers.

Building the Fa)(a 3D at Roma Makers lab.

One of the main issue in 3D printing for Cultural Heritage is to replicate an object in the right scale (otherwise you will just print a souvenir) and this is why it is very important to know how to perform a 3D scan, but also how to post-process your data ( (in ATOR you will find a lot of informations about this), in order to send the right file to the machine.
Here are some example of the models we are printing for the exhibition (scale 1:1): some 3D skulls of hominids (different individuals of Homo georgicus) we were able to scan, tanks to the kindness of Prof. David Lordkipanidze, during our mission to Tiblisi and Dmanisi. We will use them to prepare some Augmented Reality interactive exhibits related to paleoart.

3D printed skull (side view)

3D printed skull (front view)

And here is a short video of our Fa)(a 3D in action:

Have a nice day!

A Georgian mission: food for thought

Working as professionals in archeology sometimes means to be involved in projects abroad. Between Monday 22 and Friday 26 September 2014 Arc-Team participate in organizing a mission in Georgia to document the skulls of Dmanisi (Homo georgicus), in order to perform the facial reconstructions for the open source exhibition "Facce. I molti volti della storia umana" (en: "Faces. The many aspects of human history").

Dmanisi's panorama

The work was possible thanks to the kindness of Prof. David Lordkipanidze (of the Georgian National Museum) and to the precious help in logistic organization of our colleague and friend Zviad Sherazadishvili.

The excavation site

During the mission, carried out with Nicola Carrara (of the Anthropological Museum of the University of Padua), I had the opportunity to take some pictures regarding traditional food in Georgia and "pay my debt" with Lucia Galasso (according to this post).
This is the material I collect:

1. An Adjarian Khachapuri (one of my favorite Georgian dishes), served in a restaurant in Tbilisi.

Adjarian Khachapuri

2. Some Khinkali, for a fast lunch in Dmanisi.

Khinkali

3. A shop selling Churchkhela in Tbiblisi (for a good dessert).

Churchkhela

I hope this post will be useful for food culture specialists, helping to discover and appreciate the culinary traditions of Georgia.
Once again I have to thank my friend Zviad Sherazadishvili for the kindness and help in organizing the mission!

Group photo in Dmanisi