Discoidal from Peck 2

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

Today’s animation is a crude discoidal that was excavated sometime between from March 2 and May 18, 1937, as part of work relief archaeology at the Peck 2 site, a Monongahela village in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Excavators at Peck 2

It is now within the archaeological collections of The State Museum of Pennsylvania (TSMP). It appears to be unfinished and its final form may have been intended to be a chunkey stone, such as this one from the Fort Hill site, another village excavated by work relief archaeologists.

Pottery Fragment with Carbonized Residue from Peck 1

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

 

Today’s animation is a pottery fragment recovered archaeologically from the Peck 1 site, a Monongahela village site located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was excavated by a Work Projects Administration (WPA) crew from October 13, 1936 to January 29, 1937 and under the direction of Edgar E. Augustine.  This artifact is now in the collections of the  Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

Scanning at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History

This particular sherd was radiocarbon dated as part of an effort to determine the ages of Monongahela villages excavated by the WPA in Somerset County (Means 2005, 2007).  The research potential of museum collections is shown by what we have been able to learn from this otherwise mundane fragment of a ceramic vessel.

Means, Bernard K.

2005 New Dates for New Deal Excavated Monongahela Villages in Somerset County.  Pennsylvania Archaeologist 75 (1):49-61.

2007 Circular Villages of the Monongahela Tradition.  The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.

Deer vertebra from Peck 1

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

Today’s animation is a deer vertebra recovered archaeologically from the Peck 1 site, a Monongahela village site located in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. It was excavated by a Work Projects Administration Crew from October 13, 1936 to January 29, 1937 and under the direction of Edgar E. Augustine.

This artifact is now in the collections of Carnegie Museum of Natural History where it was 3D scanned.

Shark Vertebra from Jamestown

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)

 

Today’s animation is a shark vertebra recovered archaeologically by Jamestown Rediscovery. It was scanned on September 9, 2015  at the Jamestown Rediscovery laboratory. It was scanned and later printed within two weeks of its discovery.

Animated Object: Plaster Architectural Fragment from Rome

by Bernard K. Means, Directory, Virtual Curation Laboratory

This fragment of Roman-era architectural plaster is from a Rome, Italy and was scanned in the Virtual Curation Laboratory.

 

 

Animated Object: Ocarina in the Shape of a Giant Armadillo from Costa Rica

by Bernard K. Means, Directory, Virtual Curation Laboratory

 

This ocarina in the shape of a giant armadillo was 3D scanned at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) on June 23, 2015.  It is part of CMNH’s Costa Rican study collection.

 

 

Animation of Today: Sculpture of Ganesha from Ranihat

by Bernard K. Means, Director, Virtual Curation Laboratory

Today’s animation is a sculpture of Ganesha that dates to circa 12th century A.D. from Ranihat.  It is located in the Museum of Himalayan Archaeology and Ethnograohy at HNB Garhwal University, which is located in Srinagar (Garhwal), state of Uttarakhand, India.

I scanned this statue with a Structure Scanner attached to an iPad Mini in the museum itself while on a trip to the university as part of a collaborative project with Dr. Vinod Nautiyal. Details on this project can be found here.

The digital model was edited in the Virtual Curation Laboratory and then printed at a reduced scale using a MakerBot Mini.

Animation of Today: Terracotta Figurine of a Woman in Dancing Posture

by Bernard K. Means, Director, Virtual Curation Laboratory

Today’s animation is a terracotta figurine of a woman in dancing posture. Dr. Vinod Nautiyal provides these details: the figurine was found at the site of Jhusi in the town of Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh and dates to the Kushan Period (100 to 200 A.D.).

The terracotta figurine was scanned using a NextEngine Desktop 3D scanner by Mohan Naithani, Sudhir Nautiyal, and myself on August 6, 2015 in the Archaeological Computing Laboratory at HNB Garhwal University, which is located in Srinagar (Garhwal), state of Uttarakhand, India. I had traveled specifically to North India to work with Mohan and Sudhir, with guidance from Dr. Vinod Nautiyal.  Details on this project can be found here.

VInod holds the terracotta figurine while Mohan looks on from the background.

Animated Object: Bird Figurine from Costa Rica

by Bernard K. Means, Directory, Virtual Curation Laboratory

 

This bird figurine was 3D scanned at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) on June 23, 2015.  It is part of CMNH’s Costa Rican study collection.

 

 

Animation of the Day: Smoking Pipe with Masonic Symbol from James Madison’s Montpelier

by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory

Today’s animation is a clay smoking pipe with Masonic symbol that was recovered from James Madison’s Montpelier.This object was scanned in the archaeology laboratory at Montpelier on July 8, 2015.  As James Madison himself was not a Mason, Dr. Matthew Reeves, director of archaeology at Montpelier, notes there are two possibilities for the origin of this pipe: 1) it may have belonged to one of Madison’s guests, or 2) it may have to a member of the enslaved community at Montpelier, as suggested by descendants of this community that helped recover the smoking pipe.