Hello everyone,
Our article regarding the 3D documentation of Ötzi and the archaeological artifacts found with him has been published in the scientific journal Heritage. The open-access paper can be read and downloaded directly from the journal's website or on ResearchGate .
I had previously teased a few of these topics here on ATOR—such as developing a 3DHOP extension to view the mummy in X-ray mode and utilizing the open-source DCMTK libraries to analyze DICOM data from CT scans. However, the new paper details the project's specific challenges and the solutions adopted.
In particular, the article explains:
- How we achieved higher detail in surveying leather artifacts using Displacement Mapping, a technique we first experimented with during the Forensic Facial Approximation (FFA) of Santa da Genova;
- How we overcame challenges related to specular reflections on non-Lambertian surfaces;
- How, in the case of the bear-fur cap, we applied neural radiance fields (NeRF) algorithms using the open-source software nerfstudio;
- How we reconstructed a multimodal Digital Twin of Ötzi, capable of simultaneously displaying both the mummy’s 3D surface model (obtained via SfM) and the internal skeletal structure (derived from CT DICOM data).
The seeds of this research were presented in Turin during ArcheoFOSS 2023, but this paper expands significantly on the methodologies developed throughout the Ötzi project.
As always, all software tools used in this work are FLOSS. You can also read the official press release from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology here.
I hope you find the article useful. Have a nice day!
