Automatic Positioning and Contour Analysis of Complete Bone Models - data and code

3D models (.wrl/.vrml) of modern mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) astragali and calcanea. PYTHON script for computing automatic alignment (Part 1- align_items) and contours (Part 1-Contours). This work accompanies the manuscript: Lebenzon, R., Dick, N., Munro, N.D., Grosman, L., under review. New Tools for Computational Zooarchaeology: Automatic Positioning and Contour Analysis of Complete Bone Models. Journal of Archaeological Science. ABSTRACT: As staple tools in zooarchaeological research, morphometric analyses have contributed substantially to foundational research themes such as taxonomy, paleoenvironmental reconstruction and animal domestication. Thus, as the field of archaeology transforms with the rapid advancement of computational techniques, new methods that analyze the complete 3D model, herein called Complete Model Analysis (CMA), hold great promise for zooarchaeology. By extracting and analyzing the complete 3D mesh in a fully automated manner, CMA offers an accurate, repeatable and nuanced approach to bone shape analysis. However, until now, CMA has not been integrated into zooarchaeology due to the complexity and irregularity of some bone shapes which are incompatible with the existing automatic positioning methods that provide the essential first step in CMA analysis. Here, we address this challenge by introducing a three-step procedure that can automatically position any 3D mesh. This breakthrough enables the application of all existing CMA analytical protocols to faunal material. Additionally, we present a global contour tool that automatically generates geometric profiles to calculate assemblage variance. We demonstrate the applicability and utility of these two tools by exploring sex-related variability in a collection of modern mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella) skeletons. Ultimately, this paper opens the door to the development of new CMA analyses in zooarchaeology, including by machine learning.现代山瞪羚（Gazella gazella）距骨（astragali）与跟骨（calcanea）的3D模型（文件格式为.wrl/.vrml）。 用于自动对齐计算（第一部分——align_items）与轮廓提取（第一部分——Contours）的Python脚本。 本数据集配套如下待审稿件：Lebenzon R、Dick N、Munro ND、Grosman L 撰写的《计算动物考古学新工具：完整骨骼模型的自动定位与轮廓分析》，已投稿于《考古科学杂志》（Journal of Archaeological Science）。 摘要： 形态测量分析作为动物考古学研究的核心工具，已为分类学、古环境重建与动物驯化等基础研究主题提供了重要支撑。随着计算技术的快速发展推动考古学领域变革，针对完整3D模型的新型分析方法——本文中将其称为完整模型分析（Complete Model Analysis, CMA）——为动物考古学研究带来了巨大潜力。 通过以完全自动化的方式提取并分析完整3D网格模型，完整模型分析为骨骼形态分析提供了精准、可复现且细致入微的研究路径。然而，由于部分骨骼形态复杂且不规则，无法适配完整模型分析流程中作为核心首步的现有自动定位方法，截至目前完整模型分析尚未融入动物考古学研究。 本研究针对这一难题，提出了一种可对任意3D网格模型进行自动定位的三步流程。这一突破使得所有现有完整模型分析流程均可应用于动物骨骼材料。此外，本研究还开发了一款全局轮廓工具，可自动生成几何轮廓以计算组合样本的变异度。 我们通过分析现代山瞪羚（Gazella gazella）骨骼集合中的性别相关形态差异，验证了这两款工具的适用性与实用性。本研究最终为动物考古学领域中新型完整模型分析方法的开发铺平了道路，其中亦包括结合机器学习的分析方向。