God or the Devil are in the Details Too: Reusing 3D Digital Resources for Cultural Heritage Research

In material cultural heritage research practice, little attention seems to have been given to the digital data lifecycle. And, although often mentioned, to making research data actually FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) [1]. In this talk, I will showcase an investigation on archaeological Greek and Cypriot pottery (c. 10th-4th BCE), with a strong emphasis on 3D digital resources. The objectives are manifold, namely: to understand the chronological and geographical variability of their production, use, and shape; as well as to enable conservation studies and monitoring. However, despite the considerable amount of 3D models of archaeological objects available online and elsewhere, I will demonstrate some of the barriers encountered to reusing them and proceeding with this investigation. This presentation tackles issues related to digital repositories and archives, quality and trust of 3D digital resources, contextual and useful metadata for research (including paradata), and data incompleteness. Knowing that although a resource cannot and need not be fully described, it can be better described.