Early human footprints were found pressed into volcanic sediments in Tanzania. In 2010, Vince Rossi and Adam Metallo,of the SI Digitization Program Office, used photographs and a process called "structure from motion" to make detailed 3D digital models of a selection of footprints.
In 2017, prints were documented a second time. Comparing the print imagery determines how the prints have changed through time. The prints are all eroding at a rate of a f...ew tenths of a mm each year with localized areas of much greater loss.
While, conservation and tourism groups can use this information to better direct preservation efforts at the Engare Sero footprint site, the technique can also be applied to other print sites and an almost unlimited variety of other features experiencing change through time. The erosion may impact estimations made about the print-maker's height and weight.
Read more in this newly published article. Using Differential Structure-from-Motion Photogrammetry to Quantify Erosion at the Engare Sero Footprint Site, Tanzania.
Vince Rossi, Branch Manager of the 3D Digitization program at the Smithsonian, and Adam Metallo, Sr. 3D Program Officer, Research & Education Impact are co-authors.
Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian's Human Origins Program
A nice piece by National Geographic about our work 3D scanning fossil human footprints in Tanzania and how that data was used to monitor site degradation over a period of seven years.
