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.

Animation of the Week: Base of the Skull of a Leatherback Sea Turtle

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

This week’s animation is the base of the skull of a leatherback sea turtle that was brought to the VCL for scanning by Ray Vodden of the Virginia Museum of Natural History.

 

Animation of the Week: Futuristic Console

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

This week’s animation was created from a console that was temporarily on loan to the VCL by VCU student Tesha Ellis.

Animation of the Week: Sugar-Based Bird Sculpture

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

This week’s animation was created from a sugar-based bird sculpture that was temporarily on loan to the VCL.

Animation of the Week: Mastodon Jugal (Cheek Bone) from the Carter bog site, Darke County, Ohio

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

Today’s animation is a jugal, or cheek bone, from a sub-adult mastodon (Mammut americanum) found in a bog in Darke County, Ohio. It was brought to the VCL for scanning by Ray Vodden, Research Technician in charge of casting and molding at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (VMNH). Ray is reconstructing the mastodon for an exhibit at VMNH, and needed to have a left jugal bone to mirror the right one that was discovered.  He can sculpt a replica, but that would take considerable time and effort.  Instead, we 3D scanned the bone in the VCL using a NextEngine Desktop 3D scanner, mirrored the digital model in Meshmixer, and then 3D printed the “left” bone using our MakerBot Replicator–all in a fraction of the time sculpting would have taken.

Ray Vodden holding the mastodon jugal up to a projected image of a mastodon skeleton.

Printed mirror of the right jugal.

Special Animation: Iron Alloy Pan Head

This iron alloy effigy in the shape of the Greek God Pan’s head was recovered from the Flowerdew Hundred site and dates to the 20th century.  While its exact function is unclear, it likely was once part of a decorative fence post.

Animation of the Week: Cowbell from the Brenna Geraghty Garden Site

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

Today’s animation is a cowbell recovered by Brenna Geraghty from her garden.

 

Animation of the Week: Artistic Interpretation of the Venus of Willendorf as an Anti-Fertility Goddess Made of Chocolate

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

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) has a strong arts program and I often have art majors who take my courses.  One of these VCU art majors, Beth Reid, became involved with work in the VCL and decided to combine her interests in archaeology, art, and virtual curation into a sculpture that could be 3D scanned.  In spring 2012, she created a chocolate sculpture resembling the famous Upper Paleolithic portable object known as the Venus of Willendorf–and interpreted by some as a fertility figurine.  Ms. Reid’s chocolate sculpture was combined with birth control pills, to create an anti-fertility figurine.  In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is the animated version of her sculpture.

Animated Object of the Day: Early 17th Century Smoking Pipe from Jamestown

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

 

Today’s animation is an early 17th century smoking pipe that was scanned in Jamestown Rediscovery‘s archaeological laboratory. This pipe was scanned as part of an effort to create a digital type collection of temporally diagnostic pipe forms, which will also be replicated using a 3D printer.