Standardisation in 3D Geometric Morphometrics: Ethics, Ownership, and Methods

• Published in: Archaeologies Vol. 14; no. 2; pp. 272 - 298
• Main Authors: Hirst, Cara S., White, Suzanna, Smith, Sian E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anthropology; Archaeology; Cultural Heritage; Human remains; Professional ethics; Social Sciences; Three dimensional imaging; Standardisation; Observer error; Reconstruction; Ethics; Ownership; 3D digitising; Geometric morphometric
• ISSN: 1555-8622; 1935-3987
• DOI: 10.1007/s11759-018-9349-7

The collection and analysis of 3D digital data is a rapidly growing field in archaeology, anthropology, and forensics. Even though the 3D scanning of human remains in archaeology has been conducted for over 10 years, it is still frequently considered as a new field. Despite this, the availability of 3D scanning equipment and the number of studies employing these methods are increasing rapidly, and it is arguably damaging to the validity of this field to continue to consider these methods new and therefore not subject to the same standardisations as other researches. This paper considers the current issues regarding the lack of standardisation in the methods, ethics, and ownership of 3D digital data with a focus on human remains research. The aim of this paper is to stimulate further research and discussion, allowing this field to develop, improving the quality and value of future research.