This month we want to show you some special specimens that the museum houses. 3D models of different organisms have been scanned and reproduced using such technology. In this way, new specimens can be generated like the originals, assuming a greater commitment to conservation, study and universal dissemination quickly, economically and without compromising the integrity of the specimens. Through this technique a wide spectrum of possibilities opens up.

The new digitization technologies are changing the way of understanding the world and among these changes we find the different new possibilities of accessing museum collections, both natural and cultural. Paleontology is one of those disciplines that has been fully favored by new 3D technologies, promoting their dissemination. Offering new accessible media for a different audience.

Within the scope of a FECYT project, the MUVHN has developed various models in the form of a three-dimensional puzzle. With this, it is sought that through touch the different groups with visual functional diversity have greater and better access to the natural heritage that it houses. Being able in this way to freely manipulate the specimens and understand the different morphologies they present. In addition, these 3D models can be hosted free of charge on free access virtual platforms that act as digital repositories, facilitating universal accessibility of the specimens, which can form part of other teaching projects.

This month we show you some of the puzzles created along with their original fossils. For this we have selected some specimens such as a skull of Homo neanderthalensis, a gastropod from the Cretaceous, such as Ampullina sp. , an echinoderm from the Upper Miocene, Cyrtospirifer grabaui representing the Devonian brachiopods or the molar of a proboscidean of the species Anancus arvernensis.

If you want more 3D models, here is our Sketchfab