Thursday, November 26, 2020

Teleportation archaeology?

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: How are archaeologists using hi-tech during the coronavirus era? Archaeologists from Haifa and San Diego had to get creative to work on their collaborative excavation without actually travelling due to quarantines (Hannah Brown, Jerusalem Post).
So they were able to work around the disadvantages of the virus restrictions using photogrammetry, where photography and technology create 3D models in a lab. The Israeli divers would record all they did with GoPro cameras and would scan the artifacts they collected at the end of each day and then send these scans to San Diego. The researchers there would then create the objects in the lab, using 3D printers.

“When they take artifacts back to the university, they scan them, send us the objects, and we can just print the object. What’s cool is that I get the object here printed in 3D, so I can hold it in my hands,” said Levy. “Even a 3D image in virtual reality is not the same as holding it in your hand.”

Beam me up, Scotty!

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