Photogrammetry Based Study of Ceramics Fragments

International audienceReconstitution of whole ceramics from fragments is a true priesthood for ceramographers. This activity remains mainly handled by manual sketching and can be very time consuming. However, more and more tools and workflows provide digital solutions, based on 3D technologies, to assist such tasks. In this paper, we present an application of photogrammetry on ceramic fragments from two excavation sites located in Brittany, France. This study was required by two ceramics specialists and conducted in CReAAH, a French research center in archaeology, archaeosciences and history. The 3D restitution by photogrammetry of these different fragments allowed reconstructions of the original shapes of the potteries or at least to get to as close as possible. We furthermore used the resulting 3D models of the ceramics to compute various metrics required by the ceramographers. In collaboration with IRISA, a French research center in computer science, we designed and generated a presentation support using a 3D printer. This work is based on affordable tools and illustrates how 3D technologies can be quite easily integrated in archaeology process with limited financial resources, to obtain useful results for the study and analysis of such artefacts