Abstract
This article examines the analytical potential of digital three-dimensional models of Bronze Age ceramic vessels as a source of morphometric data. The study material comprised 6 vessels of the Sintashta-Petrovka, Alakul and Sargary-Alekseyevka cultures from the collection of the Kostanay Regional Museum of History and Local Lore. 3D models were obtained using a structured light scanner EinScan-SP and processed in MeshLab. Morphometric analysis included verification of digital measurement accuracy against museum passport data, classification by the proportionality index H/Dm, and calculation of volume V and surface area S. Verification showed that deviations do not exceed 1.85% across all linear parameters. The deviation for Dm of specimen no. 1 at +3.03% reflects genuine geometric asymmetry of the vessel body confirmed by cross-sectional analysis of the 3D model and does not represent measurement error. For specimen no. 5 the Dm value absent from museum documentation was recovered from the digital model. Classification by H/Dm in the range 0.61 to 0.92 revealed typological differences between cultural groups formulated as hypotheses for future large-sample studies. Calculation of V and S provided data unavailable through standard museum documentation. The results confirm the analytical potential of 3D models for morphometric study of Bronze Age ceramic collections in Kazakhstan.
01 Introduction
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