From Fragments to Frameworks: Building a citizen science protocol for bone refitting
Please join us for a joint Presentation hosted by the University of Minnesota Archaeology Brown Bag Lunch Series and the Anthropological and Mathematical Analysis of Archaeological and Zooarchaeological Evidence (AMAAZE) research consortium
Presenters: Laena Lindahl, Taava Johnson, Quinn Ufford
Date and Time: Friday, 18 April 2025 from 12:15 - 1:00 p.m.
Location: HHH 389
Please join Laena Lindahl, Taava Johnson, and Quinn Ufford, three undergraduate anthropology students currently working in AMAAZE-labs for a presentation showcasing their early work on Re(fit)Lab -- a citizen science concept aimed at involving the public in virtual reconstruction of materials such as pottery, stone tools, and bone. Inviting broader participation in the reconstruction process (known as “refitting”) not only helps expedite a labor-intensive stage of archaeological analysis, it also fosters deeper public engagement with, and investment in, science and cultural heritage. At the same time, this approach holds great potential for researchers; a distributed refitting network could support large-scale analysis of archaeological, comparative, or experimental collections across sites, institutions, and disciplines. The presenters will share their experience developing a prototype refitting protocol using 3D models of experimentally broken bone fragments within Blender, an open-source 3D modeling software. Originally invited to AMAAZE-labs to support scanning efforts, the students pivoted toward this initiative after encountering technical challenges, using the opportunity to imagine a new avenue for public collaboration in archaeological science. Join us for an engaging discussion of the possibilities and challenges of public participation in archaeological reconstruction and help shape the next phase of the project as we collectively imagine what a more inclusive, distributed approach to refitting might look like -- one where researchers and communities work together to reassemble the pieces of our shared past.
