Similarity analysis of African Red Slip Ware (ARS) with modern 3D and 2D processing techniques
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 21/11/2020

African Red Slip Ware (ARS) is a relief-decorated ceramic produced mainly between the 3rd to 5th century AD in North Africa. The characteristic appliqué motifs provide us some insights into understanding the late antique worlds of ideas and their change. As mass-produced image carriers and everyday objects, ARS bowls, plates and vessels found a wide distribution. 3D ge-ometry and archaeological interpretation allows to identify correspondences between different appliqué motifs in order to determine common manufacturing strategies or even a common workshop. For this purpose, a digital true-to-original replica of each relief-decorated ARS of the RGZM collection is created using structured light scanning and photogrammetry. Due to the manufacturing process appliqués are deformed in different ways, depending on the geom-etry of the vessel. These deformations must be eliminated as far as possible prior to a similarity analysis; therefore, different types of transformations have to be applied. Restituted appliqués can be processed in different ways in order to estimate a potential similarity. We apply 2.5D, 3D, and image processing techniques in order to calculate transformations and supporting spatial features helping to support correspondence hypotheses. In addition, we will use semantic tech-nologies helping to split the object into unique spatial entities and to model the archaeological content. The latter will be based on visualisation and manual interpretations through experts.


Philipp Atorf, Carina Justus, Ashish Karmacharya, Louise Rokohl, Frank Boochs