Automated Extraction of Profiles from 3d-models of Archaeological Fragments

Motivated by the requirements of the present archaeology, we have been developing an automated archivation system for archaeological classification and reconstruction of ceramics. Our system works with the profile of an archaeological fragment, which is the cross-section of the fragment in the direction of the rotational axis of symmetry. Ceramic fragments are recorded automatically by a 3D-measurement system based on structured light. The input data for the estimation of the profile is a set of points produced by the acquisition system. The profile is used to reconstruct the original pot. Our approach consists of several steps, starting by calculating the proper orientation, which describes the exact positioning of the fragment on the original vessel. Next the profile line is computed and several measurements, like the diameter and height of the vessel. After evaluating the profile line a virtual pot is reconstructed. The performance of the proposed algorithm was tested on real data and the results are presented in this paper.