{"id":102,"date":"2017-09-13T18:15:28","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T17:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/?p=102"},"modified":"2017-09-22T09:07:41","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T08:07:41","slug":"laser-scanning-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/2017\/09\/13\/laser-scanning-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Laser Scanning 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

As well as compositional analysis, a key element of our project is the laser scanning of our selected range of musical instruments from Roman Egypt. The Petrie has some amazing examples of instruments that struggle to survive outside of the arid Egyptian environmental conditions \u2013 we have wooden clappers, metal bells, reed flutes and panpipes. Laser scanning these items allows the recreations of these objects, either through 3D printing or through the making of replicas\u00a0using authentic materials and techniques. This will allow the instruments to be played, giving us the chance to hear the music of Roman Egypt in the 21st century.<\/p>\n

A copper-alloy bell on a child’s bracelet from the Petrie Museum; the thinness of the top section of the suspension ring indicates heavy wear, presumably over many years. Photo: Ellen Swift.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The\u00a0Classical & Archaeological studies\u00a0department at Kent is equipped with a laser scanner and our technician Lloyd Bosworth joined us up at\u00a0the Petrie for a day of scanning. The focus of the day’s activities were the Roman copper alloy bells and cymbals from the\u00a0collection.\u00a0The scanner sits on top of its own\u00a0freestanding tripod, and has a fully articulated arm on which the scanning gun sits. This means you can scan objects on a table by pulling on the trigger and moving something similar to\u00a0a barcode scanner over the artefact. Simple really. Or at least Lloyd makes it look simple \u2013 after having a go myself it’s clear that it\u00a0requires a lot of hand eye co-ordination in order to keep the scanning gun the correct distance from the object, whilst also capturing every surface of the artefact.<\/p>\n

Lloyd scanning one of the bells from the Petrie collection. Photo: Jo Stoner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

However, once I stepped aside it was a successful day, and Lloyd scanned all of our chosen objects. These included a round bell similar to\u00a0modern sleigh bells – a particular challenge was trying to scan the gap in the surface where the ball-shaped clapper was inserted. Our selection also includes a number of small bells attached to tiny bracelets, which we think were worn by children as an amuletic device (and also perhaps to keep tabs\u00a0on where they were!). We also scanned a fantastic bell in the shape of the head of Bes, the dwarf god of\u00a0ancient Egypt who protected mothers and children, and whose worship continued into the Roman period.<\/p>\n

Roman bell in the shape of the Egyptian god Bes. Photo: Ellen Swift.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once all the scan data is processed, the digital models of the instruments can be passed to our craft practitioners who can use the highly accurate measurements and surface details to create our replicas. We’ll update again soon on our\u00a0progress!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As well as compositional analysis, a key element of our project is the laser scanning of our selected range of musical instruments from Roman Egypt. The Petrie has some amazing examples of instruments that struggle to survive outside of the arid Egyptian environmental conditions \u2013 we have wooden clappers, metal bells, reed flutes and panpipes. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[131120,185346,1129],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/egypt-artefacts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}