3D Laser Scanner for Surveys of Fragmented Archaeological Findings

The cultural request to document, interpret and safeguard the huge archaeological heritage which exists in Catania has produced a useful collaboration in the past few years among the Cultural and Environmental Heritage Superintendence of Catania, with Doctor Maria Grazia Branciforti, the Faculty of Architecture of Siracusa, with Professor Giuseppe Pagnano, and the research group from the Photogrammetry and Architectonic Survey Laboratory of the Catania Athenaeum, coordinated by Professor Luigi Andreozzi. This collaboration has permitted us to verify the useful application of the 3D Laser Scanner technology and the following bi-dimensional and tri-dimensional graphic restitutions, directed towards the critic survey of complex monuments, such as the Greek – Roman Theatre and the “dell’Indirizzo” Baths of Catania, and of incomplete individual manufactured articles such as some interesting fragmented sculptures. In this paper attention is given to on the study carried out on a marble sculpture, found during the excavation campaign lead by Doctor Branciforti at the Greek-Roman Theatre of Catania which is at present undergoing restoration work. Although the statue is incomplete, it was without doubt a Roman copy of the original Greek era marble statue “Leda with a swan” ascribed to the sculptor Timotheos (IV century B.C.). The complete survey of the statue, using 3D laser scanning technology, was carried out to precisely document the consistency and quality of the finding. Working on the virtual tri-dimensional model obtained, moreover, it was possible to virtually rebuild the individual missing parts, thanks also to comparisons with photographs and drawings of other existing copies. The aim was to achieve a graphic restitution of the complete work. The application has carried out on a finding whose identification is certain, in order to put into place an investigation system which can be used to verify limits and potentiality. The aim of the present research is to apply the same investigation procedure to other fragmented sculptures, whose identification cannot be compared with other existing copies. The possibility of skilfully manipulating the virtual model of the incomplete finding allows the anatomic and posture peculiarities to be analysed, thereby permitting the virtual extension of the missing parts to be hypothesized, in accordance to movement sketches of Greek prototypes. This in-depth study has, other than a cultural valence, a practical rebound effect regarding the solution to the problem of “setting up" the statues in museum exhibitions. Thanks to the tri-dimensional model of the finding and to the virtual reconstruction of the missing parts, it is possible to construct appropriate support and eventual prosthesis, through innovative technology of laser moulding, the 3D prototyping.