Digital Repatriation: Using 3D Scanners to Repatriate Native Artifacts

We will highlight a collaboration between Barnard College administrators, a professor of archaeology, and the American Museum of Natural History. Currently there are Picuris Pueblo artifacts from the Spinden collection at AMNH, which the tribe would like to return to New Mexico; however, the AMNH legally acquired these objects from the late 1800s, and the tribe currently doesn't have the proper facilities to archive these objects. Using 3D scanning, photography, and 3D printing, these artifacts have been digitally catalogued and contribute to ideas around "digital repatriation," where digital representations of tribal artifacts can be returned to their origins.

Outcomes: Understand ideas around digital repatriation * Understand what is 3D scanning and possible use cases for 3D scanning * Learn about one partnership process model for 3D scanning a collection