Virtual restoration of human osteological remains: a digital reassembly method using a guided pipeline and open-source software

Human skeletal remains are often found fragmented, and reassembling them can be challenging–yet essential, as important information can only be retrieved when the bones are intact. This process is time-consuming and often difficult - or even impossible - to perform without damaging the original bone. Moreover, not all the specimens can be restored through manual cleaning and by using glue and tape. CT scanning is increasingly used in archaeology and forensic sciences as it enables the creation of virtual 3D digital copies of the original bones that can be virtually reassembled. However, despite some promising recent results, further research is still needed. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of a manual digital reassembling method using affordable tools and a precise pipeline to guide researchers, regardless of their familiarity with 3D software and level of expertise. A set of 30 archaeological human remains, exhibiting varying degrees of fragmentation, was selected. Each bone was CT scanned twice: once in its fragmented state and again after being manually reassembled. A comparison was then made between the digital reassembled 3D models and the traditionally reassembled ones, which served as the gold standard in this study. Afterwards, a pipeline was created and tested on researchers with different levels of expertise. This study found low deviations ('1 mm) in most of the samples in the intra- and inter-observer tests, suggesting this digital method is a reliable alternative to traditional reassembly techniques for skeletal remains.