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Virtual Artifact Curation of the Historical Past and the NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner

Virtual curation of artifacts—the creation of intangible digital models from tangible artifacts—has clear benefits to opening up the historical past. Researchers and the general public anywhere in the world can access, manipulate, and share three-dimensional (3-D) digital models of artifacts that might otherwise be locked away behind display glass. This enhanced access will contribute to a broader reflexive archaeology and further archaeology as a tool for social engagement. This paper focuses on the efforts of the Virtual Curation Laboratory to curate and digitally conserve objects from historical sites using a NextEngine Desktop 3D Scanner. Virtual curation of historical objects is well suited to reflexive and collaborative research efforts between scholars and students located around the globe, and for public outreach both in brick-and-mortar museums and throughout cyberspace. Digital artifact models and plastic replicas created from these models can also be successfully and inexpensively integrated into K–12 and undergraduate educational endeavors, facilitating science, technology, engineering, and math goals.