Anyone who has watched Jurassic Park should remember the scene where we were introduced to Dr. Alan Grants dig site, which included that really annoying kid. Grant’s assistant introduces a ‘shotgun’ radar scanner, or something like that. “A few more years’ development, and we won’t even have to dig anymore.” So do archeologists actually use digital techniques in the field today? Jurassic Park was released in 1993 over 20 years ago. so is this even practical today?
How Do You 3-D Scan a Dinosaur?
Here is and short BBC film showing one of the techniques used today . . .
BBC News Digital dig The Scanning Technology Revolutionizing Archaeology
Next-Gen Paleontology: 3D Printed Dinosaurs
About this lecture: September 12, 2013, in the Linda Hal Library Main Reading Room.
Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, Associate Professor, Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, Drexel University
According to Dr. Kenneth Lacovara, “technology in paleontology hasn’t changed in about 150 years. We use shovels and pickaxes and burlap and plaster. It hasn't changed—until right now.” Dr. Lacovara will share his pioneering work in using laser scans and 3D printing technology to create and test scale models of fossil bones for educational use, museum display, and for testing hypotheses about how dinosaurs moved and behaved.
