Classification of Bayon Faces Using 3D models

Digital 3D models of historic buildings or cultural heritage objects are useful for preservation. Not only can we store them permanently, but the models can supply a clear guideline for the restoration process. 3D models also provide sufficient information about geometrical characteristics that may help archaeologists to inspect and classify the objects. Currently, we are working on a 3D digital-archiving project of the Bayon Temple. It is a building of stonework that was built in the 12 century in Cambodia. It is famous for its towers with four faces at the four cardinal points. According to research by JSA (Japanese government team for Safeguarding Angkor), the faces can be classified into three groups based on subjective criteria. In this paper, we explore a more objective way to classify the faces by using measured 3D geometrical models. After alignment of 3D faces in the same coordinate system, orientation, and normalization, we captured in-depth images of each face and then classified them by several statistics methods.