Penguin 3.0 - Capturing small finds in 3D

Archaeological small finds provide a variegated myriad of data of crucial importance to the study of their finding contexts. Anyway, only a close all-around examination can give a full comprehension of their multiple functions. The production of reliable documentation is thus an essential process and this paper illustrates a fast, reliable and easy tool to collect documentation during the excavation season. The tool, named Penguin 3.0, was developed at the Geodesy and Geomatics Division-Sapienza University, exploits the potentialities of the Occipital Structure Sensor, a low-cost sensor able to rapidly generate reliable 3D models of small objects. This sensor can be connected directly to a mobile device (i.e. smartphone or tablet) and it collects the 3D information of the scanned object in real-time. The aim of this work is to perform a methodological presentation of the acquisition procedure in order to highlight the pros and cons of using this 3D scanning technology to capture 3D models of archaeological small finds. The step by step acquisition process is fully described with the goal of identifying a standardized procedure able to generate reliable and accurate 3D models. This new tool introduces the idea of an objective metrical classification of finds and of a not-anthropic graphic and photographic documentation of them. It is thus the first step towards an automatic pre-classification of finds on a broad scale, making free the archaeologist’s time and mental energy for the momentum of study and interpretation.