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Digital Impressions: Creating 3D Models of Clay Tablets

The VU University Library is making history more accessible! Our heritage collection includes fragile clay tablets that are precarious to handle, but thanks to 3D scanning and printing, these artifacts can now be explored both digitally and physically in education. 

Bringing Ancient Clay Tablets to Life with 3D Technology


Before this project, we used to offer five 3D clay tablet models on edusources. Limited resources made it challenging to expand, improve and promote this collection. But that has now changed! With funding from the Npuls "Boost Your Collection" initiative, we have refined, expanded, and enriched our collection. By integrating these 3D models into Object-Based Teaching & Learning (OBTL), we have succesfully enhanced their educational value and promoted collaboration between students and teachers as co-creators of learning materials. 

Collaboration and education 

For the 3D-scans we used the EinScan SE, which uses photogrammetry to create 3D images. This scanner was on loan from the Demonstrator Lab, a facility for students and researchers where they can check at an early stage how promising their ideas are before moving on to a start-up.   

This project explored the potential of the 3D-models in education. Working closely together with Assyriologists and educational advisors, we developed educational modules that are now openly available on edusources. With this enriched collection, we aim to improve accessibility, inspire diverse interactions, and collaborate with other institutions on OBTL, digital humanities and 3D-scanning technology.  

Questions about this project? Get in touch with met Anouk Nuijten (project manager).

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