On the application of 3-D scanning technology for the documentation and typology of lithic artifacts

A 3-D optical scanner was used to obtain precise and complete representations of lithic artifacts. A computer algorithm, which was specially developed for the purpose, was used to position the artifacts in a way which enables the extraction of the standard metric parameters (length, width, width at 1/2 length, etc.). In this way, the ambiguities which affect the traditional manual measurements were eliminated. This new methodology creates accurate and objective databases. Several other parameters (center of mass position, volume, surface area) were also computed. The advantages of our method are illustrated by the analysis of 90 scanned Lower Paleolithic handaxes.