Montreal Museum Adopts 3D Laser Scanning

Taking a stroll through history

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has created full collections of individual mummies that allow guests to walk through each room. They can view how each mummy lived in their time, observing the diets, artifacts, and even clothing of a few select mummies. Each room is themed around the individual mummy drawing guests toward the ancient Egyptian life.

Researchers at this museum of fine arts have adopted 3D laser scanning as a noninvasive way to recreate each mummy and their artifacts. This technology allows a more in-depth exploration of each individual, where other older forms of making replicas of the mummies left room for error and a lot of guesswork.

3D laser scanning provides better ways to tell what precisely a mummy died from and what wounds were from after the mummification process. The older forms of scanning mummies left researchers not knowing as much as they would like, and therefore they had to be vague with the guests who want to learn about the mummies.

Older ways of scanning

In the past, CT, computer tomography, was used to take scans of the mummies. This did not allow researchers to accurately identify how the mummies died. However, it was a noninvasive way to take a scan of the mummies without disrupting or breaking the mummy. CT was the first step in letting guests learn about the mummies. Now there is a new and improved way that allows researchers to gather more detail on a mummy.

New ways of scanning

3D laser scanning provides accurate, as well as a noninvasive way to gather details on a mummy. This technology allows researchers to get a look at every inch of the body, picking precise dimensions of scars, or texture of the mummies skin, and even bone structure. 3D laser scanning allows researchers to dive deep into the history of ancient Egypt, allowing them to share with the guests who walk into the museum.

It could change the focus of the museum

3D laser scanning is a budget-friendly way that could allow a change in the museum. Because artifacts have the option of being scanned and replicated, it could enable guests to interact with the exhibits differently than ever before. 3D laser scanning could allow guests to pick up and touch replicas of the artifacts. Not all museums are on board with this idea. For now, the Montreal museum has a video of a mummy being unwrapped for guests to watch and learn from.

What 3D laser scanning is

3D laser scanning is one of the hottest topics in the technology world, and that is because it is relatively budget-friendly for what it can do. It takes thousands of pictures per second, gathering accurate information on an object or scene. The data is then stored in the cloud, from there, it can be saved for future reference, or sent across the world in minutes.

Final thoughts

3D laser scanning has changed the way we view the world. Giving consumers the best access to historical events and access to knowledge that otherwise would be hard to get. This technology allows artifacts to be scanned and then shipped back to their original home, not keeping them from their home country. There are many benefits of 3D laser scanning. As it gets more widely adopted, new uses will come out for this technology.