Mending broken vessels a fusion between color markings and anchor points on surface breaks

This paper presents a method to assist in the tedious process of reconstructing ceramic vessels from excavated fragments. The method exploits vessel surface marking information coupled with a series of generic models constructed by the archaeologists to produce a virtual reconstruction of what the original vessel may have looked like. Generic models are generated based on the experts' historical knowledge of the period, provenance of the artifact, and site location. The generic models need not to be identical to the original vessel, but must be within a geometric transformation of it in most parts. By aligning the fragments against the generic models, the ceramic vessels are virtually reconstructed. The alignment is based on a novel set of weighted discrete moments computed from convex hulls of the markings on the surface of the fragments and the generic vessels. When the fragments have no markings on them, they are virtually mended to abutting fragments using intrinsic differential anchor points computed on the surface breaks and aligned using a set of absolute invariants. For axially symmetric objects, a global constraint induced by the surface of revolution is added to guarantee global mending consistency.