Heritage, Volume 6, Issue 9 (September 2023) – 23 articles

In the field of the Cultural Heritage (CH), image-based 2D and 3D digital acquisition is today the most common technique used to create digital replicas of existing artifacts. This is carried out for many reasons, such as the following: research, analysis, preservation, conservation, communication, and valorization. These activities usually require complementary specialized equipment, tailored to specific purposes in order to achieve the desired results. This equipment is not easy-to-find on the market, it is not always affordable for museums operators; it is sometimes expensive, and it usually needs tricky customizations. However, the development in recent years of more generalized, versatile, and affordable instruments and technologies has led to new approaches, leveraging a new generation of low-cost, adaptable equipment. This paper presents custom-made equipment following this new path, designed to provide optimized results through calibrated tools alongside the software to make it work. The essay focuses specifically on the self-production of instruments for the digital reproduction of ancient drawings, manuscripts, paintings, and other museum artifacts and their transformative impact on digitization techniques. The outcomes of self and custom-built equipment specifically produced for the contexts described in this paper highlight their potential to foster interdisciplinary collaboration, facilitate scholarly research, enhance conservation efforts, and promote cultural exchange. The final goal is to propose inexpensive equipment that is easy to use (even by not specifically trained operators) and that provides remarkable quality. Full article

The civilization and tangible cultural heritage of the Kharga Oasis has a historical precedence over that of the old Nile Valley civilization. Approximately 12,000 years ago, a significant prehistoric migration occurred from the Kharga Oasis to the Nile Valley. This event was motivated by climate change and the southward shift of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which caused a shift in Egypt’s savannah forests from abundant vegetation to an extremely dry desert. The present study investigates the progressive deterioration of the tangible cultural and civilized legacy of the Kharga Oasis over the course of several millennia, positing that this phenomenon can be attributed to the area’s vulnerability to paleoclimatic fluctuations. The evaluation of the Kharga Oasis’ susceptibility to climate change was predicated on the scrutiny of petroglyphs that were unearthed at different sites within the Oasis. This analysis was reinforced by paleoclimate information and radiocarbon dating (C14). The utilization of an interdisciplinary approach yielded significant insights into the dynamic climate patterns and their effects on the Kharga Oasis across temporal scales. The results illustrated a noteworthy alteration in climate, which caused the conversion of the Oasis terrain from being heavily wooded to becoming arid, mainly due to extended periods of drought. The present research postulates a novel and alternate hypothesis concerning the archaeological chronology of human habitation in the Kharga Oasis from ancient eras, predicated on the analysis of pictorial depictions on rock surfaces. The findings of this study made a noteworthy contribution to the current corpus of knowledge regarding the vulnerability of the ancient Egyptian society to the impacts of climate variability. Moreover, the petroglyphs’ depictions provided a distinctive viewpoint on the climatic fluctuations that occurred in the Sahara and North Africa throughout the Holocene epoch, as well as the fundamental causative factors. Full article

By articulating a shared victimhood or guilt or responsibility, memorial museums are designed as ethical projects that encourage visitors to learn from the past to build a “better future”. In contemporary Europe, Holocaust memorials and museums constitute a trajectory of remembrance about public Holocaust memory that consolidates political legitimacy and articulates national narratives of the legacy of WWII. In parallel, increasing adoption and spread of digital technologies have resulted in a convergence and a globalisation of themes and user interests associated with Holocaust memory. The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspectives and interests of users of the social media profiles of a group of Holocaust museums and memorials in Germany and Italy. Using a primarily quantitative approach, the study sought to understand the motivations, interests, and online activities of users of nine Holocaust museums and memorials. While national narratives regarding public policy continue to diverge in the two countries, users express a convergence of interests and motivations when using these social media profiles. This dual venture of Holocaust memory is a complex yet powerful example of how the globalisation of digital media is playing an increasingly significant role in European contemporary society. Full article

This study aims to compare the effects of some chemical agents on the removal of calcareous encrustations, which are characterized by the presence of both calcium and silicon. The experimentation was conducted during the conservation treatments of Cerriglio’s nymphaeum (Massa Lubrense, Naples, Italy). Tests were carried out in the laboratory on specimens and in situ to define the most efficient choice between several chelant agents, in the recovery of calcium and silicon, using ICP/OES and spectrocolorimetric and microscopic analyses. Full article

On 26 April 2017, Mexico formally adopted the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda to link the national government to local governments, the private sector, civil society and academia. The restoration of heritage residential buildings (recovery programme) and the construction of new residential buildings aim to create a diversified environment for populations at different economic levels. However, the restoration programme faces conservation challenges. Given this context, this paper presents the results of in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders in Mexico’s heritage and energy sectors. The duration of each interview was approximately two hours, with 52,372 total interview words. The paper identifies prevailing opinions regarding prioritising historical values, energy efficiency, historic buildings and users concerning Mexico City’s Historical Centre, a World Heritage Site needing a more appropriate sustainable development plan. Using grounded theory and thematic analysis, the interview data were analysed based on the interrelationship between thermal comfort, energy efficiency and heritage conservation changes over time. The results of this research will strengthen our understanding of the interventions and processes involved in managing and living in this World Heritage Site and its future impacts on buildings. The approach also underscores the importance of how stakeholders prioritise different values in making energy efficiency-promoting decisions and enhances awareness of the decision-making process and actions adopted by heritage building users. Thus, understanding the dynamic interrelationship between values, users and energy could improve the sustainable management of heritage sites and future development. Full article

The preservation of natural stone heritage is still a major challenge for the scientific community. This topic assumes a greater importance since it impacts economic and socio-cultural values. Recent research has indicated that water action and microorganism activity are among the major contributors to the deterioration of this material. Despite the emergence of new protective solutions in the market, some constraints still need to be overcome. This study aims to contribute to unveiling the effectiveness of innovative commercial coatings on the preservation of natural stone frequently used in built heritage. Four different commercial coatings are assessed regarding their compatibility with the substrata and effectiveness against UV radiation, water action, and microbial development under accelerated ageing. The protective solutions are tested on five different Portuguese lithotypes, including carbonate and silicate-based stones. Colour change is measured to assess compatibility, while profilometric change of the stones’ surface and antimicrobial potential are evaluated to determine their effectiveness. Our research demonstrates that the solution that exhibits the greatest compatibility and effectiveness potential is composed of modified silanes and siloxanes derivatives. Full article

Dalle de verre windows consist of thick slabs of coloured glass set in a matrix of reinforced concrete. The invention of this special art form is closely linked to the developments in modern architecture in the first half of the 20th century that are characterized by using new technologies such as steel-frame construction, reinforced concrete and the increasing use of glass. Many of these windows are showing damage, some of it severe. Until now, the causes of damage have hardly been investigated and there is still no practical and suitable approach to the analysis of the state of conservation of dalle de verre glazings. One of the main objectives of an interdisciplinary project (2019–2021) was therefore to evaluate the potential of non-destructive techniques for the characterisation of and identification of damage of dalle the verre windows in their structural, physical and climatic context. Various non-destructive methods (Ground-Penetrating Radar, Electric resistivity, Half-cell potential, Ultrasonics, Induction, Magnet and Thermography) have been tested on two prominent dalle de verre examples: the windows created by Fernand Léger for the church of Saint-Germain d’Auxerre in Courfaivre (Swiss Jura mountains) and the large tripartite by Alexandre Cingria once decorating the choir window church of the Franciscan monastery at Fribourg, Switzerland. The results of the analyses presented in this paper provide valuable information on the advantages and limitations as well as the costs of the methods used. Full article

In this study, the well-preserved glazes of 13 colored bricks representative of the decoration of the palaces of Sargon II (Khorsabad, 8th century BC) and of Darius I (Susa, 6th century BC) were examined. The purpose of this research is to gather information about the ancient brick manufacturing processes by examining the colored glazes and, in particular, black glazes using a combination of methods that included optical microscopy, SEM-EDX, synchrotron µ-XRD, and µ-Raman spectroscopy. The results revealed different coloring techniques for producing black glazes in the Neo-Assyrian and Persian Achaemenid periods. Regarding the black glazes of Susa, it is particularly interesting to note that their chemical composition varies according to the function of the glazes on the bricks: manganese oxide (for colored fields of glaze) and iron-rich compounds (for raised lines separating glazed areas). In comparison, the black glazes from Khorsabad are characterized by the presence of spherical copper sulfide and galena nanoparticles (ranging from less than 100 nm to about 1 µm) for both the glazed areas and the separating lines. This coloring technique to obtain black glazes is very rarely described in the literature, as well as the mechanism of formation of these spherical nanoparticles. Full article

The authors studied forty-three beautiful nose ornaments from the Moche tomb of the Lady of Cao, located in the north of Peru, which has been dated to be around 300–400 d.C. Of these items, thirty-nine are composed of a sheet of gold alloy joined together in various manners to a silver alloy sheet, which provides a strong contrast at their interface. Two nose ornaments are on gold alloy and two on silver alloy. These nose ornaments were studied using the following methods: (i) Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF); (ii) Transmission of monoenergetic X-rays (XRT) and (iii) X-ray Radiography (RAD). The conclusion, deduced from all applied methods, was that two sheets of gold and silver alloys were joined together with various methods, including gluing, mechanically joining, soldering, smelting with the aid of heating or using mercury to create an amalgam. It cannot be excluded that a few areas, visibly appearing as silver, were obtained by depletion silvering from the base Au-Cu-Ag alloy. By analyzing a fragment from the silver area of a nose ornament and by studying a few other nose ornaments from the tomb of the Lady of Cao in situ, G. Ingo and co-workers concluded that a unique sheet of three-component alloy (Ag-Cu-Au), whichemployed and transformed the surface of the objects to appear to be gold and silver by depletion gilding and silvering. Full article

The paper aims to study the geometrical quality and opportunities of the state-of-the-art 3D camera Matterport Pro and examine its potential for industrial archaeology applications. The presented study consisted of two steps. In the first step, the geometrical quality of the camera-generated point cloud was investigated on the calibration test field. The geometrical quality was checked in two ways: (1) with distance comparison between reference targets and (2) with point cloud comparison. The coordinates of the reference targets were determined using a high-precision total station, while the FARO Scanner generated the reference point cloud. The study established that Matterport Pro has a scale systematic error that must be accounted for in 3D modeling and the inventory of archaeological objects. In the second step, the geometrical quality of the camera was checked for the actual archaeological object. As such an object, the historical copper-shaft Quincy Mine in Michigan State Upper Peninsula was considered. The specific subject of the study was one of the largest hoist engines in the world. The Matterport Pro camera scanned the indoor environment of the hoist engine house. The accuracy of the 3D model of the hoist engine was checked using additional linear measurements on-site. It was found that the accuracy of 1% showed that the camera specification can be improved through calibration. As an output of the second step, the accurately refined 3D model of the hoist engine’s interior was built. That model was embedded into a 3D model of the hoist engine’s house for usage in virtual tours of the Quincy Mine Museum. Finally, a virtual tour was created of the Quincy Mine house with exterior and interior models referenced to the geographical frame. Full article

This article outlines a pedagogical approach to the virtual reconstruction of the 16th-century Monastery of Madre de Deus, Lisbon, Portugal. The monastery was built upon a former palace in 1509 by Queen D. Leonor. After her death, it underwent several modifications until its present function as the National Tile Museum. These modifications have obscured its history as one of the most significant religious buildings of the Portuguese Renaissance. To recover this lost history, the research uses a pedagogical approach combining previous scholarship, a laser scanning survey, archaeological survey data, written and graphic historical descriptions, and discussions with historians. The article has two principal aims: firstly, to concretize the results of the eight reconstruction projects produced by students using a Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) methodology. Secondly, to present an alternative model of teaching history and digital technologies. Our research suggests that extending virtual reconstruction research into pedagogy can provide highly original interpretations of complex and contradictory architecture. The approach promotes meaningful collaborations between researchers and cultural institutions while immersing young professionals in the digital tools and current philosophies of architectural heritage. Full article

Considering how difficult it is for a pin in the ocean to be found, painstaking searches among historical documents and eyewitness accounts often end up with more unknowns and questions. We developed a three-tier geo-spatial tech-based approach to discover and unfold the lost WWII heritage features in the countryside of Hong Kong that can be applied in other contexts. It started with an analysis of historical texts, old maps, aerial photos, and military plans in the historical geographic information system (HGIS) Project ‘The Battle of Hong Kong 1941: a Spatial History Project’ by Hong Kong Baptist University to define regions/points of interest. Then, 3D point clouds extracted from the government’s airborne LiDAR were migrated to form a digital terrain model (DTM) for geo-registration in GIS. All point clouds were geo-referenced in HK1980 Grid via accurate positioning using the global navigation satellite system—real-time kinematics (GNSS-RTK). A red relief image map (RRIM) was then used to image the tunnels, trenches, and pillboxes in great detail by calculating the topographical openness. The last tier of the tech work was field work involving ground validation of the findings from the previous two tiers and on-site imaging using terrestrial LiDAR. The ground 3D LiDAR model of the heritage feature was then built and integrated into the DTM. The three-tier tech-based approach developed in this paper is standardised and adopted to streamline the workflow of historical and archaeological studies not only in Hong Kong but also elsewhere. Full article

To understand the significance that cultural heritage has today and, above all, the role of citizens in decision-making for its valorisation, transmission, and management, it is necessary to approach it from a very early age, specifically through childhood education. Hence, this action research study is proposed for 56 infant teachers in initial training at the University of A Coruña (Galicia, Spain). This is a descriptive case study that aims to investigate the perceptions of early childhood education teachers in initial training about cultural heritage (definition: economic, cultural, and educational uses; agents involved in its transmission, management, etc.). In addition, the paper analyses the changes and continuities that occur in student teachers’ perceptions after carrying out a didactic proposal through relevant social problems linked to the Ribeira Sacra cultural landscape. This action research study has allowed students to give more importance to intangible cultural heritage and to gain a better understanding of controversial issues related to cultural heritage, such as the balance between economic and cultural use, as well as citizens’ roles in a decision-making process related to cultural heritage. Despite engaging in didactic activities, a substantial portion of students still retain a conservative outlook on heritage education. Full article

This research focuses on the risk management of reinforced concrete heritage constructions in coastal environments, with an emphasis on preserving their cultural significance. It addresses a critical gap in existing risk-related research, since this type of heritage site is often overlooked in heritage conservation research. The proposed methodology offers a flexible framework that links natural and human-induced hazards with their impacts on key heritage values, enabling the development of appropriate mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies. Climate change-induced threats are also incorporated, allowing for more effective adaptation plans to safeguard concrete coastal heritage for future generations. The Ocean Swimming Pool in Matosinhos, Portugal, designed by the Pritzker Prize winner Álvaro Siza, serves as a pilot study to illustrate the practicality of the risk-based approach, considering its coastal location and exposure to various hazards. By using this case study, the research provides a roadmap for preserving and adapting heritage constructions in similar coastal settings. The integration of cultural values into risk management and conservation policies is a significant contribution of this research. It advocates for a proactive approach that considers the dynamic challenges posed by climate change while preserving the significance of cultural heritage. The adaptable nature of the proposed methodology allows for broader applications, potentially benefiting multiple heritage sites in coastal regions. Ultimately, this research calls for positive changes in risk management practices to ensure the preservation and longevity of culturally significant reinforced concrete heritage sites. Full article

UNESCO Global Geoparks are recognised in the scientific community for their exceptional geological significance, but their potential to embrace and preserve cultural heritage sites is underestimated. This study delves into a pioneering approach within the Sesia Val Grande UNESCO Global Geopark (NW Italy), examining the integration of culturally significant sites into conservation and promotion strategies. To achieve a successful integration, we adapted a methodology used for the identification and assessment of geosites, incorporating the criteria of cultural significance, to assess the value of 10 cultural sites within the geopark and compare the results with the assessment values of 10 geosites. Moreover, we submitted survey questionnaires to geopark tourists to understand their interest in visiting both geosites and cultural sites. The findings reveal the remarkable scientific, educational, and touristic values of these cultural sites, which constitute an important resource for the geopark, to be enhanced and protected together with the geosites. Interestingly, the higher scientific value of cultural sites corresponds to increased visitor interest, which is in contrast to the trend observed for geosites. Through this unified approach, the monitoring of cultural heritage within the geopark is simplified and improved, enabling a comprehensive inventory and efficient administration. Moreover, by aligning visitor interests with scientific value, the Sesia Val Grande Geopark can enhance conservation and sustainable tourism efforts. Full article

The need to improve the energy performance of European buildings is beyond all doubt, as indicated by the different regulatory determinations on energy and climate change adopted by different public administrations in recent years. The primary actions have focused on improving the thermal enclosure of buildings; the placement of new energy-efficient skins on their exterior façades is consequently beginning to deconfigure, distort, homogenize and globalize the city in an alarming manner. In the case of Spain, the lack of a specific regulation on how to proceed when renovating the vast majority of residential buildings without heritage protection is leaving the ultimate decision in the hands of owner associations. It is therefore urgent to endow municipal administrations with a tool enabling them to regulate and control the transformation of a city’s image before it is too late. To that end, a pioneer methodology is proposed to classify the unprotected building stock of a municipality with a view to future renovation actions, depending on the degree of their vulnerability and the greater or lesser need to protect their image and the other pre-existing features. As a theoretical case study to test the proposed methodology, the locality of Errenteria, Spain, was chosen, demonstrating that it is an effective tool easy to apply in any city nationwide, regardless of the respective location, size and management capacity. Full article

Cultural heritage objects present a special set of challenges for chemical analysis. Often micro-sampling or even contacting the object is deemed an unacceptable risk to the object. This study examined if specular reflection FTIR, a non-sampling and non-contact analytical technique, can provide insight into chemical composition of the layered coatings on Frédéric Flachéron’s paper negatives (1848–1852) in the Harrison D. Horblit Collection of Early Photography, in Houghton Library, at Harvard University. Specular reflection FTIR data confirmed the identification of beeswax and sandarac as the transparentizing media on Flachéron’s paper negatives, as previously published by Lee Ann Daffner. However, specular reflection FTIR analysis also indicated that some negatives had additional localized coatings of orange shellac in specific areas of the images. To understand why Flachéron retouched his negatives with orange shellac, modern experimental replications of the paper negative process were performed. Through modern experimentation with the paper negative technique, it was found that Flachéron’s coatings of shellac served as an integral part of his image-altering technique. The color of the orange shellac subtly alters contrast and density, but it does not mask an area the way an opaque watercolor or highly pigmented paint might. The fine adjustments to the negatives with orange shellac were an attempt to perfect the contrast in the print, and better render depth and detail. These discoveries add to a growing body of recent research that points to the historic and art historic importance of negatives and coatings in photography. The specificity with which specular reflection FTIR was able to nondestructively identify the chemical composition of the local coating, and specifically target the analysis on the areas in which it appeared, allowed for an understanding of Flachéron’s use of local coatings as a retouching method rather than a protective coating. Full article

Design has shaped the world in which we live; it has improved our lives in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Even if design is everywhere and is the memory of the world, collections associated with it are not usually well-known as design archives which capture spatial and temporal narratives. Saving these types of archives and making them accessible to the public, using them as cultural hubs, might improve our lives thanks to visual literacy, creativity, and innovation. The Arxiu Valencià del Disseny aims to recover, preserve, protect, and disseminate the archival cultural heritage of the Valencian designers. With a collection of more than 150,000 objects, it recovers history and evolution from the applied arts and product design, but with a markedly future-oriented character through the enhancement of the collections and their dissemination thanks to an intelligent computational system featuring cutting-edge technologies in order to prove our understanding of Valencian and European design. The aim of this paper is twofold: first, we introduce the AVD project, an interdisciplinary project that has been recently funded by the Valencian Government in order to preserve and promote the heritage of design archives; second, we introduce a set of interactive tools related to the project, such as the digitisation and cataloguing of the collection, the generation of a Design Memory Archive, advanced searching, and semantically relating the digitised collection of the Arxiu Valencià del Disseny based on data interoperability across its collections and a benchmarking tool for designers. Full article

Ancient manuscripts are precious and fragile objects, preserved in libraries, museums, and archives. Some of them are masterpieces, made with several materials and insights, but generally they are not accessible to wide communities of users. The purpose of this study is to present the preliminary results of the Codex4D project: a holographic showcase, conceived for museums, presenting the first 4D model of an ancient manuscript to the public at the Science Festival in Genoa in 2022. The manuscript, preserved in the Angelica Library in Rome, has been represented in a multidimensional digital model, documenting both its visible and invisible aspects, on the surface and in the stratigraphic layers. We analysed the visitor experience: informal learning, the meaning-making process, interactions between visitors, and gesture-based interaction with the showcase. The methodology used for evaluation is based on four different qualitative methods (grounded theory, narrative inquiry, case study, and digital ethnography). We collected notes from observation, narratives from interviews, and answers from structured interviews. The main findings are patterns of the visitors’ experiences with a digital interactive 4D model of an ancient manuscript, supported by storytelling, and a list of design issues and possible improvements for the next version of the Codex4D holographic showcase. Full article

This paper deals with a metrological and qualitative evaluation of the Artec 3D structured-light scanners: Micro and Space Spider. As part of a larger European project called ITSERR, these scanners are tested to reconstruct small archaeological artefacts, in particular cuneiform tablets with different dimensions. For this reason, Micro and Space Spider are compared in terms of the entire workflow, from preparatory work to post-processing. In this context, three cuneiform replica tablets will serve as examples on which the Artec scanners will have to prove their worth. Metric analyses based on distance maps, RMSe calculations and density analyses will be carried out to understand metrological differences between these tools. The creation of 3D models of cuneiform tablets is the first step in developing a virtual environment suitable for sharing the archaeological collection with collaborators and other users. The inclusion of semantic information through specific ontologies will be the next step in this important project. Full article

Eastern Africa is home to strikingly beautiful landscapes, unique wildlife and exotic cultural heritage that create outstanding tourism appeal. Unfortunately, these attractive features do not always translate to high tourism revenues. This paper focuses on analyzing the relationships between tourism performance indicators—arrivals, revenues and the revenue-based revealed comparative advantage (RCA)—and compare them to the components of destination facilities and endowments measured by the Tourism and Travel Competitiveness Index (TTCI). The analysis concentrates on Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, using secondary data from 2005 to 2017. The methodology applies correlation analysis and panel regression. As the results show, the TTCI and RCA are negatively correlated, but the components of the TTCI have different relationships to the RCA. Natural heritage positively influences the RCA, while cultural resources do not. The higher RCA values are also enhanced by better tourism services and better ground travel infrastructure. Similar analyses have been performed for Europe and some Asian countries, but not for Eastern Africa. The novelty of the present research is the fact that natural heritage resources can contribute considerably to tourism revenues, while cultural resources are not utilized to their full potential in terms of tourism success. Full article

Geoheritage requires proper conservation and has significant importance for geoscience education at universities. Furthermore, its related potential needs to be evaluated. This study focuses on two textbook localities (these are parts of larger geosites) from the Cenozoic orogenic belts, namely the Zagros and the Greater Caucasus. The novel, tentatively proposed approach aims at general geological characteristics of the localities, identification of the principal teaching topics and teaching opportunities, and semi-quantitative evaluation of the educational potential on the basis of several objective criteria. The Abmorghan anticline (Zagros, Iran) is suitable for learning about the regional Paleogene stratigraphy, carbonate platform evolution, and karst. The locality of the Skala monocline (Greater Caucasus, Russia) allows the deposition in past tropical conditions and monocline structures to be explained. Both localities can be used for training student skills and challenging their geological thinking. The semi-quantitative evaluation shows that the geoeducational potential of the Abmorghan anticline is advanced and that of the Skala monocline is moderate. The established potential can be exploited by universities, although this requires focusing attention on the other geoheritage sites and special marketing efforts. Full article

In recent years, researchers in the field of natural heritage have intensified their efforts to develop new ways to enhance the promotion and accessibility of natural content in order to attract more audiences using virtual representations of physical objects (digital twins). Therefore, they are increasingly incorporating new technologies and digital tools in their operations since their usage by the general public and in the natural heritage (NH) museums is considered particularly effective. Simultaneously, the increasing quality of the produced digitizations has opened up new opportunities for the exploitation of the outcomes of digitization beyond the initial anticipations. Responding to the growing demand of museum visitors for a personalized digital tour experience, especially amidst the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the v-PalM project aims to develop a digital platform to offer virtual guidance and education services at the Museum of Paleontology and Geology, which is hosted at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens. The development of the platform will be based on collecting data through various methods, including crowdsourcing, innovative information, and communication technologies, taking advantage of content digitization using 3D scanning devices. This paper demonstrates an enhanced methodology for the digitization of paleontological exhibits. The methodology uses photogrammetry and laser scanning methods from various devices, such as drones, laser scanners, and smartphones. These methods create digital twins that are suitable for various scenarios, including research, education, and entertainment. The proposed methodology has been applied to over fifty paleontological museum exhibits of varying sizes and complexities, and the resulting 3D models exhibit high accuracy in both their material and geometric aspects, while they also feature crucial details that assist researchers and the scientific community. Full article