When paleontology meets technology: 3D reconstructions of fossil vertebrates from the Pisco Formation (Ica, Peru)

• Main Authors: TINELLI, CHIARA, Cantalamessa, Gino, COLLARETA, ALBERTO, Di Celma, Claudio, GIONCADA, ANNA, Malinverno, Elisa, LANDINI, WALTER, Urbina, Mario, BIANUCCI, GIOVANNI
• Other Authors: Antonio Caruso, Claudia Cosentino, Tinelli, Chiara, Collareta, Alberto, Gioncada, Anna, Landini, Walter, Bianucci, Giovanni
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: Tipografia dell'Università 2015
• Subjects: Pisco; Sperm whale
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11568/749771

In the last years different 3D reconstruction methods have been increasingly used in paleontological studies, especially in vertebrate paleontology. Recently we supported our taphonomic studies on the marine vertebrate assemblage from the Pisco Formation (Peru) by using a 3D rendering technique. We chose the Agisoft PhotoScan Software which elaborates 3D images from just a photo shooting in series around the fossil. For the successful completion of the 3D reconstruction we factored 50% overlap between a photo and the next one. The main challenge during image capture was the different lighting of exposed bones and the low contrast between the fossil and the background; for example, sometimes the color contrast between bones and the surrounding sediment was poorly defined. The fossils from Pisco Formation are particularly indicated for this technique due to their exceptional preservation permitting to get spectacular and very informative 3D images. A significant fossil from a taphonomic point of view is a portion of a partially articulated skeleton of Messapicetus gregarius (Cetacea, Ziphiidae) discovered in Cerro Colorado, the type locality of the giant stem sperm whale Livyatan melvillei. The 3D image evidences the peculiar preservation of this fossil with the skull and articulated mandibles far from the thoracic portion of the skeleton (ribs, vertebrae and sternum partially articulated). Another interesting specimen consists of a large skeleton of a balaenopteroid cetacean from Cerro los Quesos locality. Its 3D image shows the skull lying dorsally and partially destroyed by the Recent erosion, the mandibles a few centimeters displaced from their original position, the incomplete vertebral column with several fragmented ribs and a scapula. A third examined specimen is now kept in the Museum de Historia Natural de la Universitad Nacional Mayor de San Marco. This fossil is still partially inside the sediment. The bones are exceptionally well preserved: the skull and the mandibles are articulated whereas the ...