3D Fruition of Burial: Physical Limits and 3D Reconstruction of the Burial 14 of the Necropolis of Piovego (PD), Italy.

In the field of Cultural Heritage, 3D technologies were often employed for preservation, fruition and valorisation. This research aims to restore the original features of burial 14 of the necropolis of Piovego using a new approach to create morphometrically accurate 3D models of the grave goods inside the structure of the burial. The necropolis of Piovego is situated in the Est of the modern city of Padua (Italy) and it was used between the end of sixth century BC until the beginning of the fourth century BC. Burial 14 was discovered and excavated in 1976 and it was a cremation with a dolium containing all funerary objects: a set of 6 vessels of pottery and an urn that contains human remains, accessories in bronze, 1 pottery whorl and 2 anthropomorphic figures. Furthermore, there were also a bronze needle, a bronze ring, a glass bead and a bronze spiral located at the same quota in the dolium, very close to each other, thus indicating the probable presence of a textile covering the urn. The funeral practice of wrapping in textiles the urns as an anthropomorphic representation of the deceased, was very widespread during the Iron Age in Italy, although the survival of ancient textiles in the archaeological record is quite rare. Often the only surviving traces are mineralized fragments of fabric or traces of pattern imprinted on objects that were in contact with the fabric. Other indicators of this funerary practice are objects that can be associated with clothes, such as fibulae, pins or decorative elements such as beads or studs. Using a new 3D integrated approach, it was possible to simulate the “dressing” of the urn and reconstruct its original aspect within burial 14. The pottery vessels and the textiles were 3D modelled, while the metal and glass objects and the figures have been acquired by a structured-light 3D scanner. The results of this research permitted to create an appearance of the burial physically visible and tangible in a three-dimensional environment, overcoming the limits of the archaeological records. This reconstruction proved to be useful not only in the interpretation of the burial but also as a potential media for future museum exhibitions of these grave goods, being an ideal integration to the museum storytelling and also providing a new and captivating way to understand the cultural heritage.