Publishing 3D collections in small institutions: the RAMS Museum

This post was written by Hendrik Hameeuw, RAMS - Belgium.

The RAMS: a museum gem in Flanders

RAMS (Regional Museum for Archaeology on the Scheldt) is a small museum, including a depot, managing collections from various archaeological excavations from across the Belgian province of West Flanders. We are a non-profit organisation that has been committed to archaeological research for over 50 years, and the staff of the museum consists entirely of volunteers.

The Museum's collections were mainly established between 1970 and 2000, a time when organisations such as the V.O.B.o.W (an association which aims to preserve the archaeological value ​​of West Flanders) supported and carried out archaeological excavation projects. After that, this work was taken over by inter-municipal project archaeologists and commercial archaeological companies.

The collection of the museum: from the Neolithic to 8th century A.D.

The direct reason for the establishment of the museum and its associated archaeological depot arose from extensive excavations that took place over several decades just next to the location of the museum on the site: Kerkhove-Kouter. The site has an occupation history which stretches from the Neolithic, through the Gallo-Roman to the Merovingian period and consists of several tens of thousands of preserved objects.

The museum exhibits and manages in its depot collections from more than 30 other excavated archaeological sites, all with their origin in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. These include exceptional Celtic heritage excavated at the Kemmelberg hilltop settlement, intact finds from a Gallo-Roman burial ground in Kortrijk and systematic or domestic cookware from a salt mining site on the Belgian coastal plains, at the site Leffinge.

Tegula with dog paw. Fragment of Roman roof tile (tegula) with dog paw prints

The museum exhibits and manages in its depot also collections from some +30 other excavated archaeological sites, all with their origin in the Belgian province of West-Flanders. Without being far from complete, these include, for example, exceptional Celtic heritage excavated at the Kemmelberg hilltop settlement, intact finds from a Gallo-Roman burial ground in Kortrijk, or systematic or domestic cookery ware from a salt mining site on the Belgian coastal plains at the site Leffinge.

Roman amphora. Mouth, neck fragment of amphora with flat handles with applied rib, band-shaped round edge, beige baked

3D digitisation with EUreka3D

As all the collections the RAMS holds are archaeological, we want to make them accessible for research. Our goal is to digitise all assets, including the heritage collections and original documentation, description and with a variation of 2D/3D documentation and to make them available for the public.

The effort to produce and manage the complex digital content of archaeological objects is time‑consuming and challenging. As a small regional museum with limited resources, collaborating with, and having easy access, to durable digital infrastructures is crucial. This particularly applied to our 3D digitisation programme, where we decided to use the sustainable platform developed by the EUreka3D project. It offered us broad possibilities to share the assets and associated (meta-, para-)data of our collections to a variety of users. The Museum got in touch with the project thanks to the interaction from the shared network of collaborators and engaged stakeholders who participated in the project.

Converting a selection of archaeological objects into 3D models was initiated within a digitisation project of the Flemish Government: Digit all Tegoare (West Flemish for Digitizing all Together). We used two straightforward methods: Structure from Motion (SfM) Photogrammetry and Structured Light scanning.

For each method and applied processing procedure (such as type of software) we documented the information in a paradata file, which was uploaded and shared together via the EUreka3D’s Data Hub. Being able to rely on two different acquisition systems makes it possible to keep the heritage object central in the decision making, and to select the best technique for the challenge each time, in particular with regard to their dimensions and condition.

Statue of woman with child. Terracotta statuette (baked white, hollow inside) of a standing woman with child

Sharing on Europeana.eu through EUreka3D

RAMS enthusiastically joined the test phase of EUreka3D’s Data Hub as an associated partner, and we estimate that the developed path will provide a boost for the future storage and structured access to all sorts of 3D content. We tested and evaluated the elaborated workflows for 3D items, how to manage and share them, and through this, were able to publish a selection of archeological artifacts from the RAMS collection in Europeana.eu, working with Photoconsortium as our aggregator. Having a sustainable path to publish our results via Europeana.eu boosts the FAIR-ness of our data.

Future plans

We are excited to gradually let this repository of 3D models of archaeological objects grow, and as such, establish a showcase of both highlights and exceptional heritage objects kept at our museum and managed at our depot.

You can explore the RAMS Museum's 3D Collection of archaeological finds on Europeana.eu.