Odesa Archaeological Museum Launches 3D Digitization of Artifacts

The Odesa Archaeological Museum of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, together with representatives of the NGO Archaica, will digitize and create 3D models of Egyptian artifacts, Cypriot sculpture, and exhibits from Samarkand over the course of a month. The south of Ukraine - Crimea and Odesa region - will also be represented. In addition, it is planned to digitize the museum building, an architectural monument of national importance. All this information will be posted on the website and social media. This way, it will be possible to see and continue to study artifacts that cannot be looked after because of the war. Intent talked to the museum staff and saw how this is happening.

Scientists modeling the exhibition. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

Maria Lobanova, head of the department of scientific processing and storage of funds, says that they plan to process 60 items.

Maria Lobanova. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

"We tried to select the most diverse range, both chronologically and territorially. We want to tell about our region, but also about the collections we have. We will have Egyptian artifacts (the museum has the only Egyptian collection in the south of the country - ed.), Cypriot sculpture, medieval artifacts from Samarkand. The south of Ukraine will also be represented. Odesa region. There will be a lot of artifacts from Crimea," the scholar said.

Modeling clay figurines. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

A team of four people has been digitizing since February 5. Two museum staff members are assisted by representatives of the Archaic Research Laboratory NGO. They all work on different archaeological periods. Oksana Hrytsiuta, head of the exhibition department at the Odesa Archaeological Museum, is responsible for Paleolithic artifacts. Mariia Lobanova chose the Eneolithic period. Daria Hemberzhevska, a student majoring in History and Archeology at Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University, and Yaroslav Chentsov, a graduate student at the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the I. Mechnikov ONU, are in charge of the Archaic period - ancient artifacts and the Middle Ages, respectively.

Yaroslav Chentsov. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

"We did this so that we could all have as much fun working as possible, in addition to being productive. For ourselves as well," Lobanova explained. According to her, the result of the work will be as accessible as possible to everyone: "We will be able to use it at virtual exhibitions and in scientific research. For example, to publish scientific research with reference to digitized materials."

Modeling of Usativ culture figurines. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

Right now, the museum is working on exhibits of Usativ culture. They are digitizing the Usativ stele, a limestone slab with images of people and animals, as well as clay figurines. This is the Early Bronze Age, 3400-2700 BC. The culture got its name from the village of Usatove in Odesa region, where the first excavations of the mound were made in 1921 by the then director of the museum Mykhailo Boltenko. He advocated the idea that the Usativ culture was a special pastoral culture closely related to Asia Minor and Mediterranean cultures. Other scholars believed that the Usativ monuments belonged to the late stage of the Trypillian culture. However, many years of research on Usativ-type monuments have significantly expanded the source base and confirm the legitimacy of the distinctive Usativ culture.

Daria Hemberzhevska. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

The Usativ stele. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

"The Usativ culture was studied by Odesa archaeologists. I'm sitting here right now with their clay figures," says Maria Lobanova. - "They are unique in the Odesa region. And they are very fragile. It is important to preserve them as well as possible."

Usativ figurines. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

It should be noted that from December 2 to 12, 2024, the museum staff was trained as part of the international project Ukrainian Heritage Digitization and Dissemination Initiative. For ten days, the project participants were taught how to digitize archaeological artifacts and create virtual 3D models. The course was taught by experts from CyArk, an American nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting cultural heritage and teaching future generations the latest 3D documentation methods. The training took place at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. In addition, the Odesa Archaeological Museum received all the necessary equipment and software for 3D modeling. According to the museum staff, this is a completely grant-funded project, and the institution did not allocate any money for this.

When we asked whether it is difficult for scientists to model, Maria Lobanova said that she likes to work in programs, while Oksana Hrytsiuta likes to take pictures: "That's why I need to learn the methodology of photography, and Oksana, on the contrary, needs to work in programs."

Digitizing a museum exhibit. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

After the project, the modeling equipment remains in the museum, so scientists can continue to do this on their own.

Darya Hemberzhevska from Archaika says that the equipment provides the necessary quality of 3D models, which allows them to be used in scientific research. The models themselves are then published on the SketchUp platform, which is freely available.

Daria Hemberzhevska. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

She shared a case study about the timely modeling of the Stone Tomb, a world monument of ancient culture in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. The hill, which has served as an altar for pagan rites for thousands of years, contains several thousand ancient rock images. The chronology of the petroglyphs covers the period from the Late Paleolithic to the Middle Ages (XXIV-XXII thousand BC to the X-XIII centuries), which makes the site unique.

Daria Hemberzhevska. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

"Before the full-scale war, a 3D model of this rock painting was created. Now this territory is under occupation and there is no way to get to the location. But we have information about it. We can continue to study it," says Daria.

According to her, photogrammetry is the most accessible and cheapest method of 3D modeling that currently exists.

"For this purpose, we provide cameras with the highest available resolution, a scanner, and powerful laptops. The accuracy is up to half a millimeter, which allows us to conduct research on the models. We can see details, such as notches on bones," says Hemberzhevska.

As for the digitization of the museum building itself, the scientists will combine Date Scanner and photogrammetry, and a drone may be used.

"Which, in principle, would be nice, but given the martial law, we may have to do without drone data," explains the Archaica representative. - "The scanner is suitable for large objects - rooms, buildings. It immediately provides a scaled image and thus eliminates the human factor."

Scientists model the exhibition. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

For Oksana Hrytsiuta, who is in charge of the archaeological museum's exposition, modeling is an opportunity to create virtual exhibitions.

"We are currently making a 3D model of the exhibition'Zmiinyi: The Island Defended by the Gods'. After appropriate processing, it will be possible to post it publicly on our social networks. That is, people who cannot come to us in person can see it on the Internet," says the scientist.

According to her, 3D models of the museum's main exposition, which is not accessible, are planned to be used for virtual exhibitions to enable the community to still participate in the cultural heritage.

Oksana Hrytsiuta and Daria Hemberzhevska. Photo: Intent/Nata Chernetska

"Many museums were damaged during the war. Odesa is also in danger. We are making efforts to preserve everything so that we can restore the exhibition after the war. Now we understand our risks, and this method of digitization will help preserve this heritage for the future," Hrytsiuta said.

In 2024, for the first time since the outbreak of a full-scale war, the museum opened the exhibition "Zmiinyi: The Island Defended by the Gods," where visitors were shown artifacts found on the island. Now it is being extended.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time the museum has been digitizing its collections. In 2024, scientists engaged students of the Mechnikov Odesa National University to scan old films from archival excavations. In 2023, the NGO Museum for Change, with the support of UNESCO, organized a photographic documentation of the exhibits of the Odesa Archaeological Museum. Experts photographed a collection of glass found in the ancient cities of the Northern Black Sea region and dishes of the Trypillia culture.

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