Web-Based Scientific Exploration and Analysis of 3D Scanned Cuneiform Datasets for Collaborative Research

Denis Fisseler,Frank Weichert,Gerfrid Müller

doi:10.3390/informatics4040044

Denis Fisseler, Frank Weichert + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/informatics4040044

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Journal: Informatics	Publication Date: Dec 12, 2017
Citations: 7	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: TU Dortmund University, University of Würzburg

Abstract

The three-dimensional cuneiform script is one of the oldest known writing systems and a central object of research in Ancient Near Eastern Studies and Hittitology. An important step towards the understanding of the cuneiform script is the provision of opportunities and tools for joint analysis. This paper presents an approach that contributes to this challenge: a collaborative compatible web-based scientific exploration and analysis of 3D scanned cuneiform fragments. The WebGL -based concept incorporates methods for compressed web-based content delivery of large 3D datasets and high quality visualization. To maximize accessibility and to promote acceptance of 3D techniques in the field of Hittitology, the introduced concept is integrated into the Hethitologie-Portal Mainz, an established leading online research resource in the field of Hittitology, which until now exclusively included 2D content. The paper shows that increasing the availability of 3D scanned archaeological data through a web-based interface can provide significant scientific value while at the same time finding a trade-off between copyright induced restrictions and scientific usability.

Highlights

Recent advances in 3D scanning technology have led to increased efforts to create digital reproductions of archaeological artifacts such as cuneiform tablet fragments, as shown in Figure 1, resulting in large databases of high-resolution 3D meshes [1]
The 3D viewer requires an environment to support WebGL including a specific set of WebGL-extensions, which should be supported by OpenGL 3.3 capable hardware
As the memory requirements for the NEXUS format can be manually restricted, the viewer works on hardware with low amounts of main and graphics memory

Summary

Introduction

Recent advances in 3D scanning technology have led to increased efforts to create digital reproductions of archaeological artifacts such as cuneiform tablet fragments, as shown in Figure 1, resulting in large databases of high-resolution 3D meshes [1]. Recent advances in 3D scanning technology have led to increased efforts to create digital reproductions of archaeological artifacts such as cuneiform tablet fragments, as shown, resulting in large databases of high-resolution 3D meshes [1]. The existence of these 3D data-repositories does not result to the same extent in an increased availability of the data for associated research purposes. Accessibility to the scientific community is an ongoing issue with large scale archaeological data-repositories. The reasons for this accessibility gap range from legal and political issues, tied to the copyright on the data and data preparation times/costs, to technical challenges regarding visualization and transfer of large amounts of data [2].

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