Digital reproduction of colors and materials used in pottery: a case study from the ancient Picenum

Digital replicas of pottery and ceramics, due to their many benefits in terms of sharing opportunities and visualization, recently became popular in museum exhibits, often introducing virtual expositions for pieces belonging to collections all over the world. However, the accuracy of digital duplicates plays a paramount role in the perception of shapes and colors, since the most minute feature could easily lead to identify unexpected origins of an object, its precise time of production or even its author. This is particularly true of ceramics and pottery, whose materials, decorations, painting and manufacturing techniques have been subject to dedicated research throughout history. This paper introduces some of the specific outcomes of a research program, oriented to the quick digital acquisition, 3D replication and accurate visualization at the different scales of the Davanzali necropolis in Numana, Italy.