Antefixes from Museo Provinciale Campano in Capua. A proposal for a virtual reconstruction

Marta Esposito

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2021, 32.2, 105-119; doi: 10.19282/ac.32.2.2021.10

Abstract

The paper aims to illustrate an intervention of digital restoration carried out on different groups of antefixes coming from excavations started in 1845 in a private fund today located in Curti, near Caserta and pertaining to sacred building roofs of a sanctuary whose oldest phase is dated to the 6th century BC. Nowadays, finds are preserved in the Museo Provinciale Campano, located in Capua. Particularly, two hundred and fifty antefixes belonging to the group named ‘female heads within the nimbus’, have been studied, articulated into thirty different series, filed in a database created ad hoc, and the digital restoration of their prototypes has been completed. Issues relating to seriality and traceability of these finds to individual archetypes will be explored, features that make a faithful 3D reconstruction of a prototype possible, based on the combination of physical data of fragmented antefixes pertaining to each series. Furthermore, phases and techniques of detection and scanning of an archaeological find using a laser scanner for small objects will be particularly analyzed. It will show how to achieve a mesh from a scanning file and how to elaborate it. Lastly, processing steps necessary to the realization of a 3D restoration will be illustrated through modeling techniques and collation of different 3D scannings. These kinds of technological experimentations contribute to diversify our memory transmission modes. They offer the chance to create digital and implementable catalogs, useful for a dynamic documentation of the Archaeological Heritage, but also and above all, fundamental tools for the monitoring, conservation and fruition of analyzed corpora.

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