Bayesian Pot-Assembly from Fragments as Problems in Perceptual-Grouping and Geometric-Learning

A heretofore unsolved problem of great archaeological importance is the automatic assembly of pots made on a wheel from the hundreds (or thousands) of sherds found at an excavation site. An approach is presented to the automatic estimation of mathematical models of such pots from 3D measurements of sherds. A Bayesian approach is formulated beginning with a description of the complete set of geometric parameters that determine the distribution of the sherd measurement data. Matching of fragments and aligning them geometrically into configurations is based on matching break-curves (curves on a pot surface separating fragments), estimated axis and profile curve pairs for individual fragments and configurations of fragments, and a number of features of groups of break-curves. Pot assembly is a bottom-up maximum likelihood performance-based search. Experiments are illustrated on pots which were broken for the purpose, and on sherds from an archaeological dig located in Petra, Jordan. The p...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: ICPR
• Authors: David B. Cooper, Andrew R. Willis, Stuart Andrews, Jill Baker, Yan Cao, Dongjin Han, Kongbin Kang, Weixin Kong, Frederic F. Leymarie, Xavier Orriols, Senem Velipasalar, Eileen Vote, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, Benjamin B. Kimia, David H. Laidlaw, David Mumford
• Keywords: Computer Vision, Free-form Fragments, ICPR 2002, Pot Wall Thickness, Surface Separating Fragments