DoAM Completes Digitalization Of 5,000 Artifacts, Working On Creating 3D Images

(@FahadShabbir)

DoAM completes digitalization of 5,000 artifacts, working on creating 3D images

Department of Archeology and Museums (DoAM) has completed the digitalization of 5,000 artifacts through its Digitalization Center to provide electronic database for scholars to conduct research, preserve this cultural heritage and prevent illicit trafficking of archaeological objects

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jan, 2019 ) :Department of Archeology and Museums (DoAM) has completed the digitalization of 5,000 artifacts through its Digitalization Center to provide electronic database for scholars to conduct research, preserve this cultural heritage and prevent illicit trafficking of archaeological objects.

"The department has completed digitalization of all the 5,000 artifacts and is in process to make 3D images of the selected objects of unique nature which will be completed till the month March," DoAM Director Archeology Abdul Azeem revealed on Monday while talking to APP.

The department working under National History and Literary Heritage Division (NH&LH) was given task to digitalize 5,000 selected artifacts and create 3D images of unique objects in the initial phase which will be fully accomplished soon.

The project of digitalization of the artifacts was started soon after establishment of digitalization center for documentation of the artifacts and archival material in the DoAM.

Abdul Azeem observed that preservation and documentation has always been a matter of concern for the academic research of the moveable and immoveable cultural wealth of the country.

The fragility of archeological material and lack of digital documentation of the artifacts in the national repository limits academic study and verification of record.

The digital archiving of the whole record of the archaeological artifacts in the custody of DoAM was direly needed for preservation, preventing it from illicit trafficking and providing data to the scholars for interpretive information, he said.

Abdul Azeem said the department will digitize the entire inventory with DoAM in phases which will be replicated by all the provinces so that a national inventory can be created.

"It will enable the country to comply with the UNESCO Convention of 1970 i.e "Prohibiting and Preventing the illicit Import Export and Transfer of ownership of cultural property", he said.

Creating high resolution pictures of these artifacts and electronic database was the only way to preserve and project this rich cultural heritage of the country, he observed.

Abdul Azeem informed that the digitalized record of an artifact carries all necessary information about the object while 3-D images of the artifacts made in different angles through the latest cameras are great source of preservation.

Referring to the importance of digitalization of artifacts, he said artifacts give evidence of a civilization's culture, heritage, and development over time and often date back thousands of years and were irreplaceable.

So, the preservation and protection of artifacts against damage or theft was always a challenge for museums and other conservation organizations, Abdul Azeem said.

He said the latest technologies of digitalization through 3-D images of the artifacts can contributed a lot for preservation of this cultural asset.

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