Mass documentation of archaeological ship timbers: introducing a novel, time-efficient approach

Abstract

This article introduces the annotated scans method as a new approach to ship timber recording. The proposed method consists of several phases: timbers are first scanned in 3D, these scans are then annotated in Rhino, and finally the timber catalogue is generated using a semi-automated workflow. We compare this approach to the current best practice method for timber recording, namely contact digitising. Based on our experience recording the timbers of the Wismar “Big Ship”, we conclude that the proposed method matches, and in some regards surpasses the current best practice method, most notably in terms of cost and time efficiency.