The use of close-range photogrammetry in zooarchaeology: Creating accurate 3D models of wolf crania to study dog domestication

Our results demonstrate that photogrammetry can produce 3D models with visually satisfying levels of morphological detail in terms of texture, colouration and geometry. In addition, the quantitative comparison of the models revealed an average distance between the two surfaces of 0.088 mm with an average standard deviation of 0.53 mm. The geometric morphometric analyses revealed the same degree of measurement error for the two series of scans (2.04% and 1.95%), with only 6.31% of the morphometric variation being due to the acquisition technique. Photogrammetry, therefore, offers a low cost, easily portable and simple to perform alternative to traditional surface scanning, affording advantages that make it a highly useful tool for zooarchaeological research.