by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Today’s animation is a pipe bowl with conical protrustions across its surface. The pipe bowl was manufactured at the Pamplin Pipe Factory, a site located in Appomattox County, Virginia, and is in the archaeological collections maintained by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. A printed version was made with a MakerBot Replicator.
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Today’s animation is a pipe bowl in the shape of a bearded man. The pipe bowl was manufactured at the Pamplin Pipe Factory, a site located in Appomattox County, Virginia, and is in the archaeological collections maintained by the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. It is listed as an R. E. Lee pipe, but more closely resembles Stonewall Jackson. A printed version was made with a MakerBot Replicator.
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)
Today’s animation is a butchered dog mandible recovered archaeologically by Jamestown Rediscovery. Cut marks on the dog mandible near the broken end indicate an attempt to remove flesh for consumption. The butchered mandible dates to the “starving time” dated to the winter of 1609-1610. A spectacular forensic archaeological discovery announced earlier this year by Jamestown Rediscovery confirmed historic documents that indicate the residents of James Fort also turned toward cannibalism. For more on the individual identified as “Jane” whose body exhibits evidence of cannibalism, you can read Jane’s Story here.
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Today’s animation is adapted from a slide created by Ashley McCuistion, Digital Curation Supervison in the Virtual Curation Laboratory. Her slide was part of her presentation at the October 2013 Annual Meeting of the Archeological Society of Virginia. In that same month, the Virtual Curation Laboratory began a new project funded by the Department of Defense’s Legacy Program. This project is entitled “Virtual Mobility Archaeology Project with Further Applications of Three Dimensional Digital Scanning of Archaeological Objects.” Our basic goals with this project are to expand our virtual models of temporally diagnostic chipped stone tools and the bones from various species of animals to create digital typological collections. These digital type collections are to be accessible anywhere in the world, and can be used for educational as well as identification and research purposes.
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)
Today’s animation is a clay smoking pipe that was made and used by the Susquehannock Indians during the early 1600s A.D. It represents a canine and may have been a totem animal.Ethnohistorian Matthew T. Bradley has suggested to VCL that this animal may be a fox, as the Fox clan has been documented historically among the Susquehannock (Bradley 2008:4). Unlike other smoking pipes of this period that we have scanned in the VCL, this canine looks at the smoker rather than facing away. The pipe was recovered from a deep silo-shaped pit of the Funk Phase period (ca 1400-1550 AD.) at the Shenks Ferry (36LA2) site and is within the archaeological collections of The State Museum of Pennsylvania. A video produced for Instagram by Archaeology in the Community in the Virtual Curation Laboratory features the VCL’s Digital Zooarchaeologist Mariana Zechini discussing the smoking pipe, using a printed version made with a MakerBot Replicator. The InstaGram video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/jqMNtHqqSD/#
Reference cited:
Bradley, Matthew Timothy
2008 The development of Iroquoian clans. Paper presented at the Conference on Iroquois Research, Rensselaerville, N.Y., October 3–5, 2008. Available online at: https://db.tt/bkN43h3k
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory (VCL)
Today’s animation is a groundhog skull that was recovered by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) student Ashley McCuistion (now the VCL’s Digital Curation Supervisor) in summer 2012 while she was digging at George Washington’s Ferry Farm. in Fredericksburg, Virginia, as part of the VCU archaeological field school. The skull and the rest of the groundhog skeleton were buried by archaeologists working in the 1990s. The skull exhibits damage from the time of death (perimortem) to its left cheek bone, probably associated with the animal’s demise. Further details about this finding can be found at the VCL’s web site. A video produced for Instagram by Archaeology in the Community in the Virtual Curation Laboratory features the VCL’s Digital Zooarchaeologist Mariana Zechini discussing the skull, using a printed version made with a MakerBot Replicator. The InstaGram video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/jniwY7KqUc/#
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Today’s animation is a clay tobacco smoking pipe made in England but recovered archaeologically at George Washington’s Ferry Farm. The pipe has a molded Masonic emblem. This pipe may have belonged to George Washington himself, and the Masonic emblem was positioned to be seen by the smoker and no others. A video produced for Instagram by Archaeology in the Community in the Virtual Curation Laboratory features Olivia McCarty discussing the object, using a printed version made with a MakerBot Replicator. The InstaGram video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/jh-KOmKqat/
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Today’s animation is a wig hair curler used to maintain the wig hair worn by elite men. It was found at George Washington’s Ferry Farm. Wigs were usually the single most expensive item of a gentleman’s wardrobe. Because George Washington himself did not wear a wig, this wig hair curler was used to maintain the wigs of one of his younger brothers. A video produced for Instagram by Archaeology in the Community in the Virtual Curation Laboratory features Olivia McCarty discussing the object, using a printed version made with a MakerBot Replicator. The InstaGram video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/jfNtmRKqQy/
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Today’s animated object is a name seal that belonged to a Japanese soldier fighting Americans during World War II, and is in the collections of Clover Hill High School. The artifact itself is hand carved out of a balsa-like wood. The artifact was made available for scanning in the Virtual Curation Laboratory by teacher James Triesler of Clover Hill High School in Midlothian, Virginia. A video produced for Instagram by Archaeology in the Community in the Virtual Curation Laboratory features Olivia McCarty discussing the object, using a printed version made with a MakerBot Replicator. The InstaGram video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/jchSwqKqRG/#
by Bernard K. Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory
Our animation for today is a human mandible that was scanned and edited by Allen Huber, our Digital Technology Supervisor. This mandible was scanned to help students learn osteology. Human remains are very fragile and printed replicas help protect the original bone. The mandible is a medical specimen once used to teach students at the Medical College of Virginia and is now incorporated into the osteology teaching of Dr. Amy Verrelli. A video produced for Instagram by Archaeology in the Community in the Virtual Curation Laboratory features the Virtual Curation Laboratory’s Mariana Zechini discussing the object made with a MakerBot Replicator. The InstaGram video can be found here: http://instagram.com/p/jawbffqqU-/#
Virtual Curation Museum 