First-year Classics and Archaeology student Hailey Lortie, who is specializing in Greek and Roman studies, had the chance to try out scanning for 3D printing in Brock’s Archaeology Lab as part of a project to reunite ancient artifact replicas from Brock University and University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Technology and archeology have combined to bring together a pair of ancient artifacts living oceans apart.
During her time in Scotland and at University of St. Andrews, Carrie Murray, Brock University Associate Professor of Art and Archaeology, began a conversation about Cypriot collections that would evolve into a years-long collaboration to reunite two ancient artifacts.
Murray and her collaborator at St. Andrews, Professor of Classics Rebecca Sweetman, stumbled on a hypothesis they each had one half of a pair of artifacts originally intended to be kept together: Zeus Ammon and his female consort.
Brock’s Zeus Ammon figure in the Brock Cypriot Museum is a highlight of the collection, Murray said, and dates to circa 600-475 BCE.
“The limestone statuette depicts the divinity as a bearded male with small ram’s horns, holding a cornucopia and seated on a throne flanked by two rams,” she said.
Sweetman said they have always considered their seated figure at St. Andrews something of a “mystery lady,” having consulted colleagues across the world on her possible identification.
“It was only when Professor Murray and I were chatting about the digitization of our collection at St. Andrews, and the value of being able to share similar mystery objects, that we realized there was a matching figure in Brock’s collection,” Sweetman said.
The Brock Library’s Makerspace team joined the quest to reunite the two figures.
Murray and Classics and Archaeology students collaborated with Makerspace Supervisor Derek Schneider to produce a detailed scan of Brock’s Zeus using 3D scanning technology.
Brock Library Makerspace Supervisor Derek Schneider (left) worked alongside Carrie Murray, Associate Professor of Art and Archaeology, and Angus Smith (right), Professor and Chair of Classics and Archaeology, to teach students about 3D scanning and printing technology.
They then shared the scan with St. Andrews, who in turn shared a scan of their seated lady so each institution could create their own replica using 3D printing.
“Once we received the female figure scan from the Bridges Collection at St Andrews, the Makerspace printed a 3D replica for us to accompany Zeus,” Murray said.
Murray said the collaboration serves as an excellent example of how archaeology combines arts and sciences, and how the museum collection here at Brock relates to a bigger picture of cultural heritage.
“It’s been great to see Professor Murray and Brock students unite the two figures,” Sweetman said.
Brock’s Zeus figure and the 3D replica of the St. Andrews female figure are now on display in the Department of Classics and Archaeology.
The department plans to reveal the pair to the public on Sunday, Nov. 17 at a Niagara Peninsula Society of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) event hosted at Brock.
Held in Rankin Family Pavilion, the event will feature a talk from Alexander Smith, Associate Professor of Anthropology at SUNY Brockport, titled Cultural Cohesion, Colonialism, and the End of the Balearic Iron Age: Excavations at Torre d’en Galmés, Menorca.
On Wednesday, Nov. 27, audiences will have the chance to learn more about archaeological practices during Brock Talks Untalks: My Life in Fragments: The Story of a ‘Sherd Nerd’ in Piecing Together the Minoan Past featuring Professor and Chair of Classics and Archaeology Angus Smith.
