Nurturing Italian Geo-palaeontological Heritage with Virtual Palaeontology: Preliminary Report of Its Application in Two Natural History Museums

In this manuscript, we present a preliminary report on the use of virtual palaeontology methodologies in two natural history museums in central Italy, the Geology and Paleontology Museum of Florence and the Civic Museum of Natural Sciences of Faenza. Despite the differences between the museums (in terms of history, type and size of the collections, etc.), the use of surface and computed tomography (CT) scans has allowed the acquisition of a consistent amount of data to create digital copies of selected specimens and to plan several future projects sparked from the use of these methodologies. Our first step focused on the selection of the scanning sample: type and historically relevant specimen in the case of the Florence museum, and fragile and relevant specimens for the Faenza museum from a local yet internationally known site, Cava Monticino, dated to the Late Miocene. The scanning techniques included the use of three high-resolution scanners, with different specifications, to acquire surface data and a medical scanner to obtain CT scans. The outputs of the surface scans were excellent digital copies of the specimens, whereas tomography allowed the first investigations and visualisations of the presence of embedded bones in the fossiliferous blocks of Cava Monticino. The resulting 3D and raw data represent invaluable resources that the two museums are currently planning to implement in their exhibitions using digital visualisation devices and techniques (e.g. AR web apps, touchscreens) or 3D-printed touchable specimens.