Analyzing and simulating fracture patterns of Theran wall paintings

Shin H, Doumas C, Funkhouser T, Rusinkiewicz S, Steiglitz K, Vlachopoulos A, Weyrich T (2012)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2012

Journal

Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage Association for Computing Machinary, Inc.

Book Volume: 5

Article Number: 10

Journal Issue: 3

DOI: 10.1145/2362402.2362404

Abstract

In this article, we analyze the fracture patterns observed in wall paintings excavated at Akrotiri, a Bronze Age Aegean settlement destroyed by a volcano on the Greek island of Thera around 1630 BC. We use interactive programs to trace detailed fragment boundaries in images of manually reconstructed wall paintings. Then, we use geometric analysis algorithms to study the shapes and contacts of those fragment boundaries, producing statistical distributions of lengths, angles, areas, and adjacencies found in assembled paintings. The result is a statistical model that suggests a hierarchical fracture pattern where fragments break into two pieces recursively along cracks nearly orthogonal to previous ones. This model is tested by comparing it with simulation results of a hierarchical fracture process. The model could be useful for predicting fracture patterns of other wall paintings and/or for guiding future computer-assisted reconstruction algorithms. © 2012 ACM.

Authors with CRIS profile

Tim Weyrich

Involved external institutions

Princeton University US United States (USA) (US) National and Kapodistrian University of Athens GR Greece (GR) University of Ioannina / Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων GR Greece (GR) University College London (UCL) GB United Kingdom (GB)

How to cite

APA:

Shin, H., Doumas, C., Funkhouser, T., Rusinkiewicz, S., Steiglitz, K., Vlachopoulos, A., & Weyrich, T. (2012). Analyzing and simulating fracture patterns of Theran wall paintings. Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage, 5(3). https://doi.org/10.1145/2362402.2362404

MLA:

Shin, Hijung, et al. "Analyzing and simulating fracture patterns of Theran wall paintings." Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage 5.3 (2012).

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