Identifying designs from incomplete, fragmented cultural heritage objects by curve-pattern matching

Jun Zhou; Haozhou Yu; Karen Smith; Colin Wilder; Hongkai Yu; Song Wang

doi:10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011022

5 January 2017 Identifying designs from incomplete, fragmented cultural heritage objects by curve-pattern matching

Jun Zhou, Haozhou Yu, Karen Smith, Colin Wilder, Hongkai Yu, Song Wang

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Electronic Imaging, Vol. 26, Issue 1, 011022 (January 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011022

Abstract

The study of cultural heritage objects with embellished realistic and abstract designs made up of connected and intertwined curves crosscuts a number of related disciplines, including archaeology, art history, and heritage management. However, many objects, such as pottery sherds found in the archaeological record, are fragmentary, making the underlying complete designs unknowable at the scale of the sherd fragment. The challenge to reconstruct and study complete designs is stymied because (1) most fragmentary cultural heritage objects contain only a small portion of the underlying full design, (2) in the case of a stamping application, the same design may be applied multiple times with spatial overlap on one object, and (3) curve patterns detected on an object are usually incomplete and noisy. As a result, traditional curve-pattern matching algorithms, such as Chamfer matching, may perform poorly in identifying the underlying design. We develop a new partial-to-global curve matching algorithm to address these challenges and better identify the full design from a fragmented cultural heritage object. Specifically, we develop the algorithm to identify the designs of the carved wooden paddles of the Southeastern Woodlands from unearthed pottery sherds. A set of pottery sherds, curated at Georgia Southern University, are used to test the proposed algorithm, with promising results.

Citation Download Citation

Jun Zhou, Haozhou Yu, Karen Smith, Colin Wilder, Hongkai Yu, and Song Wang "Identifying designs from incomplete, fragmented cultural heritage objects by curve-pattern matching," Journal of Electronic Imaging 26(1), 011022 (5 January 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JEI.26.1.011022

Received: 30 June 2016; Accepted: 12 December 2016; Published: 5 January 2017

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE

INSTITUTIONAL
Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.

SELECT YOUR INSTITUTION

PERSONAL
Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.

PERSONAL SIGN IN

No SPIE Account? Create one

PURCHASE THIS CONTENT

SUBSCRIBE TO DIGITAL LIBRARY

50 downloads per 1-year subscription

Members: $195

Non-members: $335 ADD TO CART

25 downloads per 1 - year subscription

Members: $145

Non-members: $250 ADD TO CART

PURCHASE SINGLE ARTICLE

Includes PDF, HTML & Video, when available