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Training & Workshops
During the 3 years of the Faces Revealed Project, Stefania will have the chance to improve and/or acquire new methodologies and subject-specific courses to support the technological needs of the Project.
DRC Accelerator Project Winter '23
January 2023
The creation of a Database is fundamental for the Faces Revealed Project. The big amount of the data obtained by the research and including also other studies - i.e. reuse, the chemical composition of pigments, wooden analyses and, if present, X-Ray and CT scans - will be managed in a relational database created ad hoc for the Project.
The Faces Revealed Project has been included in the Digital Humanities Research Accelerator (DRC Accelerator Project Winter '23), a program which provides support for faculty research in DH and offers mentorship opportunities for graduate students. During the Winter quarter, with the help of Anthony Caldwell (Assistant Director of the UCLA Digital Research Consortium), Wendy Perla Kurtz (Lecturer & Project Scientist, Digital Humanities Program) and the Research and Instructional Technology Consultants (RITCs) at Humtech, Stacey Shin and Nick Schwieterman, Stefania will be able to accomplish also the last training expected at UCLA.
Imaging techniques
May 2022
The paint on the coffins represents one of the most important elements of the project. For this reason, Stefania also attended training courses on other non-invasive techniques to better understand the pigment of the coffins. With the help of Marie Svoboda, a conservator at the Getty Villa and manager of the APPEAR Project at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Stefania learnt and applied different not invasive imaging techniques to two small Fragments of a Coffin Lid (75.AJ.20.1 and 75.AJ.20.2), such as Ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence (UVF) and Visible-induced infrared luminescence (VIL) to map the presence of Egyptian blue.
Training in portable X-Ray Fluorescence
March 2022
To analyse the pigments of Yellow Coffins and their chemical composition in greater depth, Stefania began a training course on portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, with the help of the Director of the Experimental and Archaeological Sciences Lab (EASL), Vanessa Muros.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is a technique used for non-destructive elemental analyses of inorganic materials. It therefore provides one of the simplest, most accurate, and most economical analytical methods for the determination of the chemical composition of many types of materials. Based on the analysis of XRF spectra, it is possible to determine in some cases the provenance, historical period and, consequently, the authenticity of a painting or artefact.
Additional training
May- September 2021
An important part of the project overall is the comparison of the 3D models with and without colour and then to identify the most significant facial landmarks to be measured and to be drawn. To do this it is, therefore, fundamental to create layers that can be overlapped in transparency on the solid model, on the orthophoto and between them thus allowing a precise inspection of their correspondence with fixed points.
For this reason, Stefania decided to acquire new skills in software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and AutoCAD during the months spent at her Secondment Institution (Department ABC, Politecnico di Milano).
Practical training in Torino. The Museo Egizio and the coffin set of Butehamon
July 2021
On Monday the 7th of July 2021, Stefania and Alessandro worked together on the Third Intermediate Period mummy board and inner coffin lid of the Royal Scribe Butehamon.
Both finds are exhibited in the wonderful Galleria dei Sarcofagi at Museo Egizio di Torino with their outer coffin. The outer coffin has been analysed and studied both as part of the Vatican Coffin Project, a study that culminated in the Butehamon restoration exhibition (2015), and by the Politecnico di Milano that created a physical high-resolution 3D model for a replica of the coffin as the final installation of the temporary exhibition Archeologia Invisibile (2019).
Training on Data Elaboration
May- September 2021
Within the scope of the Tr2a, Stefania also improved her knowledge of the imagery data processing procedures with Agisoft Metashape Programme 1.7.5, a stand-alone software product that performs photogrammetric processing of digital images and generates 3D spatial data.
Training in Digital photography and 3D modelling
May- September 2021
In May, Stefania started her Training (Tr2a) in Digital photography and 3D modelling at the Architecture, Built environment, and Construction engineering (A.B.C.) Department at the Politecnico di Milano in collaboration with Supervisor Corinna Rossi and the specialist trainer Alessandro Mandelli. Stefania’s existing knowledge of 3D models has therefore been improved by attending these specialized and individual courses on digital photography, 3D modelling, and post-processing.