State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt

State Museum of Prehistory

Since spring 2024, a Rencay DiRECT 24k³ camera system has been used for the digitization of archaeological objects – the most famous being the Nebra Sky Disc.

The decision to use the Rencay camera system is based on its extremely high resolution of 2808 megapixels, as well as the fact that the system operates without the Bayer interpolation or other image enhancement algorithms commonly used in digital cameras. As a result, the digital images always match the original down to the finest details.

This setup offers the following features and allows for various imaging techniques:

• Extremely high-resolution digital capture with a maximum resolution of 2808 megapixels and perfectly even lighting.

• Focus stacking is easily possible, as the focal plane can be precisely adjusted. Depending on the size and type of the object, perfectly sharp images can always be achieved, even at maximum resolution.

• The arrangement of the lights enables the creation of six images with illumination from six different directions. These images can be used to generate a 3D model of the surface, capturing even the smallest structures.

The quality and fidelity of the digital images produced by the Rencay DiRECT 24k³ camera system allow for objective and enhanced documentation of objects, enabling more in-depth research (quote from Dr. Christian-Heinrich Wunderlich, Head of the Restoration Workshop).

For more information about the magnificent State Museum of Prehistory, please visit the following link:
https://www.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/

Further information about the Nebra Sky Disc can be found in the museum's media library
https://mediathek.landesmuseum-vorgeschichte.de/
(Please use English subtitles in the videos)

This publication has been made with the kind permission of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt – State Museum of Prehistory.