• Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
• 2012-2021close
• Research data close
• DataDOI close

Each zip file in the repository includes the following items: one or more standard photographs of the specimen for comparison, the original complete .rti file, and a folder containing the snapshots of the RTI images obtained with RTIViewer. By default, snapshots of eight standard light rakings, together with the specular enhancement and the normals visualization rendering modes were acquired. When needed, additional magnified snapshots were provided, and are named with View (no.) in the folders. When using this material, please cite this dataset as follows: Morrone, A., Pagi, H.,Tõrv, M.; Oras, E., 2020. Application of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to surface bone changes in paleopathology. UT DataDOI online repository. Available at: DOI link. The paper associated to this repository evaluates the applicability of Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) to the study of pathological surface changes in human remains. A sample of 45 human bones and teeth from medieval and early modern Estonian cemeteries was photographed and subjected to RTI imaging to document the pathological conditions that more frequently result in subtle surface modifications. Subperiosteal bone production (SBP), abnormal porosity, cribra orbitalia, endocranial lesions and lytic lesions in bone, and enamel hypoplasia and dental calculus in teeth were successfully represented with this technique. The results indicate that RTI allows visualizing shallow and discrete bone changes otherwise unnoticed. Although it cannot entirely replace microscopic and radiological techniques, RTI can be successfully performed in a reasonable time by non-specialist operators with limited funding and resources, and enables to identify the specimens that should be subject to more expensive or time-consuming analyses. Each zip file in the repository includes the following items: one or more standard photographs of the specimen for comparison, the original complete .rti file, and a folder containing the snapshots of the RTI images obtained with RTIViewer. By default, snapshots of eight standard light rakings, together with the specular enhancement and the normals visualization rendering modes were acquired. When needed, additional magnified snapshots were provided, and are named with View (no.) in the folders.

This repository does not include all the 43 specimens of the sample. The dataset was created with the specific purpose of showing in the most detailed way possible the lesions related to metabolic disease discovered in this sample, with the hope of being of aid to any other operator working with infantile human remains in the future. Therefore, a thorough selection of the specimens and of the lesions to be recorded and photographed was conducted. 9 standard light directions, obtained from the dome, were selected for this preliminary work. These are the zenith direction (90° above the specimen), the principal cardinal points (above, below, left and right), and intermediate light directions (upper-right, upper-left, lower-right, lower-left). In addition, two standard RTI rendering modes were adopted (Specular Enhancement and Normal Visualization). For any query, or to request pictures of other specimens, please contact the corresponding author. This repository is a further step in the study of perinatal metabolic disease patterns. The paleopathological findings of six child burials discovered in the Medieval and Early Modern cemetery of St Jacob (Tartu, Estonia) are reported using standard photography and Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). This is the first time RTI is used on human remains with the specific aim of examining pathological lesions of the bone. This photographic material is associated to the paper "Hunger, disease and subtle lesions: investigating infant systemic metabolic disease in osteological material from 13th-15th century Tartu, Estonia", and is also part of a larger research project focused on the use of RTI imaging in paleopathology. This photographic collection adds to the number of changes that can be identified in immature skeletal remains, serving as a model for future research.