Abstract
Abstract The largest corpus of clay figurines from the Cretan Bronze Age comes from ritual mountain sites known as peak sanctuaries. In this paper, we explore how the ‛Figures in 3D’ project contributes to our understanding of these figurines, aiding in the study of the technologies of figurine construction and the typological analysis of distinctive styles. We discuss how the project has, more unexpectedly, begun to create new dialogues and opportunities for moving between the material and the digital by taking a multifaceted approach that combines the data from 3D models and 3D prints with experimental work in clay.
Highlights
For archaeologists and cultural heritage practitioners the material world lies at the heart of our work; our varied physical engagements may, for example, involve walking landscapes, excavating sites, or curating and analysing artefacts
The largest corpus of clay figurines from the Cretan Bronze Age comes from ritual mountain sites known as peak sanctuaries
We discuss how the project has, more unexpectedly, begun to create new dialogues and opportunities for moving between the material and the digital by taking a multifaceted approach that combines the data from 3D models and 3D prints with experimental work in clay
Summary
For archaeologists and cultural heritage practitioners the material world lies at the heart of our work; our varied physical engagements may, for example, involve walking landscapes, excavating sites, or curating and analysing artefacts. To put it another way, “archaeology is naturally involved with three dimensional space” The development of 3D technologies for generating both digital and printed models has already created new kinds of engagements with sites and objects for everyone, from scholars and students to a wider interested public. We comment on how we have begun to use 3D models and prints in outreach contexts as a way of introducing audiences to our project’s archaeological material
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