The reconstruction of past mortuary rituals and practices increasingly incorporates analysis of the taphonomic history of the grave and buried body, using the framework provided by archaeothanatology. Archaeothanatological analysis relies on interpretation of the three-dimensional (3D) relationship of bones within the grave and traditionally depends on elaborate written descriptions and two-dimensional (2D) images of the remains during excavation to capture this spatial information. With the rapid development of inexpensive 3D tools, digital replicas (3D models) are now commonly available to preserve 3D information on human burials during excavation. A procedure developed using a test case to enhance archaeothanatological analysis and improve post-excavation analysis of human burials is described. Beyond preservation of static spatial information, 3D visualization techniques can be used in archaeothanatology to reconstruct the spatial displacement of bones over time, from deposition of the body to excavation of the skeletonized remains. The purpose of the procedure is to produce 3D simulations to visualize and test archaeothanatological hypotheses, thereby augmenting traditional archaeothanatological analysis. We illustrate our approach with the reconstruction of mortuary practices and burial taphonomy of a Bell Beaker burial from the site of Oostwoud-Tuithoorn, West-Frisia, the Netherlands. This case study was selected as the test case because of its relatively complete context information. The test case shows the potential for application of the procedure to older 2D field documentation, even when the amount and detail of documentation is less than ideal.

中文翻译：

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死亡和埋葬的虚拟考古学：在考古学中集成 3D 可视化和分析的程序

使用考古学提供的框架，对过去的太平间仪式和实践的重建越来越多地包含对坟墓和埋葬尸体的埋葬历史的分析。考古学分析依赖于对坟墓内骨骼的三维 (3D) 关系的解释，并且传统上依赖于在挖掘过程中对遗骸进行详尽的书面描述和二维 (2D) 图像来捕捉这种空间信息。随着廉价 3D 工具的快速发展，数字复制品（3D 模型）现在通常可用于在挖掘过程中保存有关人类墓葬的 3D 信息。描述了使用测试用例开发的程序，以增强考古学分析并改进人类墓葬的挖掘后分析。除了保存静态空间信息，3D 可视化技术可用于考古学，以重建骨骼随时间的空间位移，从身体的沉积到骨骼化遗骸的挖掘。该程序的目的是生成 3D 模拟，以可视化和测试考古学假设，从而增强传统的考古学分析。我们通过对荷兰西弗里西亚 Oostwoud-Tuithoorn 遗址的贝尔烧杯墓葬的太平间做法和墓葬埋葬法的重建来说明我们的方法。本案例研究因其上下文信息相对完整而被选为测试案例。测试案例显示了将该程序应用于旧的 2D 现场文档的潜力，即使文档的数量和细节都不够理想。