3D-PITOTI
3D-PITOTI: 3D acquisition, processing and presentation of prehistoric European rock-art
3D-PITOTI is a 3 year research project, running from March 2013 until February 2016, and funded by the EU FP7 Framework for Research.
There is ancient rock-art in most European countries and it is more common than cave art, with pictures and geometric shapes cut into rather than painted onto rock. This art exists in open-air surfaces exposed to the weather rather than inside caves. Valcamonica, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, has some of the best rock art in the world. These «Pitoti» (little puppet in the local dialect) are on the UNESCO list of world heritage. Tens of thousands of Pitoti images span a period from about 4000 BC into medieval times. Pitoti are 3-dimensional as they have depth because they are carved into the rock. But this third dimension has never been recorded or studied in detail.
3D-PITOTI will provide the step change needed by researching and developing:
- an affordable and portable multi-scale 3D scanning toolkit for the high resolution acquisition of Pitoti figures and their natural context,
- intelligent data processing technologies to enrich the scanned 3D data by classification, clustering and retrieval techniques, and
- interactive 3D visualization and presentation techniques to provide access to the enriched high resolution digital rock-art for scientists, museum visitors, school children and web users.
The research project is being led by Dr Sue Cobb of the HFRG and the other consortium members are: University of Cambridge, UL; Technische Universitaet Graz, Austria; Associazione Centro Camuno di Studipreistorici ed Etnologici, Italy; Arctron 3D Vermessungstechnik-und Softwareentwincklungs, GmbH; Fachhochschule St Poelten, GmbH and Bauhaus-Universitaet Weimar, GmbH.
For more information, go to the 3D-PITOTI website or contact Dr Sue Cobb