Neville Hollingworth

Digital Recreation and Preservation

During 2022 I worked with Dr Neville Hollingworth Ph.D. to digitally scan, preserve, and recrete virtual models of several priceless artifacts and fossils, featured in the BBC documentary 'Attenborough And The Fossil Graveyard' featuring presenter David Attenborough.

This process involved the handling of multiple precious objects, such as a neolithic hand axe, remnants of mammoth tusks, femurs, fossilized plant life, and megalodon teeth.

These virtual models are initially created through the use of photogrammetric scanning, via the capture of several thousand images in well lit conditions to produce point clouds that can be transalted into three-dimensional telemetry.

After the initial scanning, each model is meticulously cleaned and digitally re-sculpted to remove any imperfections or artifacts created by the scanning process and bring the objects as close to life as possible.

The purpose of these models was to create a safe substitute for priceless objects to be handled in a tactile manner at events hosted to educate the general public on local and international archeological findings, and also provide digital replicas to be presented virtually in both conferences and televised publications.

Comments have been made that once the models were printed and textured, each artifact was unrecognizable from its rescanned replica.