RT Journal Article
T1 The Digitization of Human Skeletal Collections: New Challenges and Perspectives
A1 Belcastro, Maria Giovanna
A1 Sorrentino, Rita
A1 Mameli, Davide
A1 Pietrobelli, Annalisa
A1 Nicolosi, Teresa
A1 Mariotti, Valentina
A1 Figus, Carla
A1 Lodolo, Elisa
A1 Forni, Laura
A1 Ratti, Stefano
A1 Rosas, Antonio
A1 Ríos Frutos, Luis Francisco
A1 Colombo, Antony
A1 Maglio, Melania
A1 Martini, Lucia
A1 Marchiori, Gregorio
A1 Giavaresi, Gianluca
A1 Fini, Milena
AB Human skeletal remains are a crucial source for understanding biocultural and evolutionary processes. Yet, their study and management are challenged by social, religious, and political factors, placing them in a ‘grey area’ within cultural heritage. Human skeletal collections often carry colonial legacies, raising ethical concerns and new challenges for research, curation, and public engagement in academic and museum institutions. In this context, digitization offers expanding opportunities for public exhibition and definition of human remains as part of our culture, while ensuring long-term preservation. Virtual approaches serve also as a useful tool to investigate human variability from evolutionary, bioarchaeological, and forensic perspectives. Moreover, digital access fosters interdisciplinary collaboration and research by enabling global scholarly engagement beyond physical limitations. Through the CHANGES project, we have initiated the digitization of the Documented Human Osteological Collections (DHOC) of the University of Bologna—one of Italy’s largest collections—making these resources available via the 3D data repository MorphoSource. This contribution provides updates on newly digitized material and reports on access requests received to date. We conclude by considering the emerging responsibilities of anthropologists in the use of virtual human skeletal collections, promoting best practices for the management of the anthropological digital twins.
PB MDPI
SN 2571-9408
YR 2025
FD 2025-11-19
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132987
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/132987
LA eng
NO Belcastro, M. G., Sorrentino, R., Mameli, D., Pietrobelli, A., Nicolosi, T., Mariotti, V., Figus, C., Lodolo, E., Forni, L., Ratti, S., Rosas, A., Ríos Frutos, L. F., Colombo, A., Maglio, M., Martini, L., Marchiori, G., Giavaresi, G., & Fini, M. (2025). The Digitization of Human Skeletal Collections: New Challenges and Perspectives. Heritage, 8(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/HERITAGE8110488
NO The project is funded by the European Union—NextGenerationEU under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR)—Mission 4 Education and research—Component 2 From research to business—Investment 1.3, Notice D.D. 341 of 15 March 2022, en: PE0000020—CUP [J33C22002850006], entitled: Cultural Heritage Active Innovation for Sustainable Society, duration until 28 February 2026.
NO European Commission
DS Docta Complutense
RD 27 feb 2026