1. OPEN-ACCESS EPIGRAPHY Electronic Dissemination of 3D-digitized Archaeological Material

Preservation and dissemination of archaeological material has always been an issue of concern for the academic research community. On the one hand, the fragility of the material limits their study. On the other hand, such material is housed in museums, libraries, and institutions worldwide, something that significantly thwarts their accessibility. Technology, high resolution 2D pictures, and electronic databases have attempted to overcome the aforementioned limitations. However, lack of contact with the physical object as a tridimensional structure still significantly obstructs research. In this paper we present the latest advances of the Digital Epigraphy Toolbox, a novel project that focuses on the digitization in 3D of ancient inscriptions from ektypa, the multi-modal visualization of their 3D models, the facilitation of interlinked 3D digitized records, and the easy and effective electronic dissemination of archaeological material. This project offers options for cost-effective shape-from-shading 3D digitization of ektypa, using a flatbed scanner, and various visualization modes, such as photorealistic 3D views and informative fingerprint map and depth map that assist scholars understand the structural characteristics of the artifacts. Finally, the project facilitates the dissemination of the 3D digitized objects by providing the users with an embeddable 3D viewer which can be easily imported in third-party databases, collections, and personal websites.