Of bears and boats: first digitalization of Ainu artifacts of the Anthropology and Ethnology Museum of Florence

Over the last two decades the use of 3D imaging techniques and their associated counterparts (3D printing, virtual or augmented reality environments) have gained ever more ground in cultural heritage disciplines and in museum contexts. The collection of 3D imaging data has become a valuable tool in various fields related to museology: analysis and conservation, public dissemination, opportunity of sharing such data with colleagues for study and research, virtual restitution for the peoples who produced the artifacts. In this article we report on the 3D scanning of two ikubashui from the Ainu artifacts collection of the Florentine museum. The application of this technology is particularly useful for wooden objects of this type, characterized by intricate and diversified decorative motifs of high symbolic significance.