The story first aired in December 2016. Jennifer gleburn is a doctor. D. Candidates for the history of art and architecture and 2015- 2016 Makerspace consultants at the University of Virginia academic laboratory. She is using a 3D printer to expose researchers around the world to archaeological discoveries. 3-save the past Graduate Jennifer Grayburn and Benjamin Gorham are using 3- D. print and model to help protect the fragile ancient artifacts they have discovered in Iceland and Sicily. Katie McNally spent a quiet afternoon at the University of Virginia Scholar\'s lab, a 3- D The printer declared the slow resurrection of a lost civilization. PhD candidate for art and architectural history Jennifer greberne and PhD candidate for classical art and archaeology Benjamin Goram are using the digital resources of the scholar lab Makerspace to rebuild them far away in Sicily and Iceland \"Makerspace is part of the academic lab with the aim of having a place where people can patch and experiment and incorporate interactive objects into research and teaching,\" says Grayburn . \". As the 2015- The Makerspace consultant at Grayburn helps students and teachers integrate new technologies into their research. She also used her own study of medieval architecture in northern Europe to test new approaches to digital pedagogy. This year, she and Gorham are trying to give researchers around the world access to fragile or mobile archaeological discoveries. \"One of our ultimate goals in using this technology for archaeological sites is to create an exhibition of objects that you can\'t see outside the site,\" Gorham said . \". Graduate students Jennifer greberne and Benjamin Goram gave them the use of 3-D printer. Gorham is in charge of GIS mapping for the project of Contrada Agnese, ancient city of Morgan Tina, Sicily, Italy. The project was born under the guidance of Malcolm Bell, an honorary professor at the University of Virginia in the United States. As early as the Bronze Age, Morgan Tina changed hands many times over the centuries, and its ruins tell a rich story about the influence of Greece, Italy, Rome and Spain. Using aerial drones and on-the- Ground photography, Gorham and Sicilian teams made accurate terrain images of their findings. Now, he and grayborn are creating 3-D- A model of the proportion of printed, found things. The morgentina site is very isolated, and most of the artifacts have been sealed under the soil for thousands of years. This makes them extremely fragile; In many cases, the best way to save them is to put them in place and to document each discovery extensively. \"This used to just mean drawing a sketch of the website on paper or on CAD [ Computer-aided design,\" Gorham said. \"But now that we have this capability, we can actually\" lift \"things from the ground without really lifting them from the ground \". We found through multiple shots, woven these photos together, finished 3- Model D and print it out. \"Last summer, Morgantina\'s staff concentrated on three trenches in the vast ancient city. Using hundreds of photos, Gorham recreated the sites digitally and has been working to print their scale models for use in class and in archaeological meetings. Explore a 3-click below- The rendering of three of the latest Morgantina dig. Despite its small size, the MakerBot printer at the scholar\'s lab can capture the precise details that are most important to archaeologists. Double-check the replica and you can see the ridge revealing, where ancient residents have added different wall layers over time, as well as the outline of a large clay pot that strangely hinders the entrance At the moment, all Morgantina reproductions are done in any color loaded into the printer on the same day with plastic Gorham and Grayburn, but they plan to create more complex models in the future. \"When we started doing these things on a large scale, I was absolutely willing to draw them into something similar to the actual type of ground soil, stone features and terrain,\" Gorham said . \". Gleburn has begun trying to paint and print larger models of Norwegian artifacts she studied in Iceland. \"I\'m cutting 3- \"D. Models and print them into pieces and we can glue them together to get close to the size of the original item,\" she said . \". Now, she\'s focused on a Big 12. A century-carved stone from herdalar, Iceland. Due to the complex Icelandic land ownership laws and limited local museum space, the stone must remain outside the former monastery in which it resides. Over the years, the harsh climate of the North has eroded the original details of the carving and is in danger of further deterioration. Over time, the unique carvings on the 12 th century hudaral stones have begun to fade. The 3- D. entertainment helps to maintain the current look before being lost by elements. \"My goal is to copy it and paint it to make it look like a stone,\" gleburn said . \". \"The idea is to save the details before they are further eroded by carving them and copy them so that students who cannot travel to Iceland can still interact with objects, not just screens in the classroom \"Gleburn has also begun trying to do this replication with smaller artifacts that other students rarely see in person. By experimenting with a printed material that mixes plastic with powder metal, she has been rebuilding Viking artifacts such as belt buckles and decorative bracelets. \"What you end up with is a metal object, and then you can tarnish it. They react like real metal products, \"she said. \"So these projects are actually a way to rebuild artifacts in their archaeological state. \"Greberne and Gorham are excited about the possibility of doing the same reconstruction techniques on bones found in archaeological excavations. Having 3- D. A printed copy of the bones found at similar excavation sites, in an attempt to determine the source of the remains found at their own site, will give archaeologists more comparison points. \"Open Access 3-idea \"The D bone model opens so many doors,\" Gorham said . \". For new excavation sites or smaller museums that do not yet have a large number of artifacts, open access to printable digital models will provide a solid foundation for bone samples to help identify. \"The use of 3- D. printing has always been based on this open- Visit the community and in the concept of open sharing Commercialize items and items . \" By expanding this open visit to their own discoveries, greberne and Gorham make it possible for students and researchers around the world to share the burden and privilege of protection. Ultimaker 3 of Makerspace- The D printer produced a detailed microcosm for the Morgantina excavation site in Sicily. \"Erosion, tomb theft and covert intervention are always a problem,\" Gorham said . \". \"One of the work of archaeologists in this field is always to find ways to prevent or avoid the loss of cultural relics, which is a way. \"By using precise 3- Grayburn and Gorham are making sure that even lost or stolen artifacts will not really disappear. \"That\'s why open sharing and entertainment is a huge deal,\" Gorham said . \". \"Even before it reaches the actual 3- D print models that digitally process these objects in a format that we can post on the website and send to other parties enhance our ability to build an audience and protect our findings. \"This article originally appeared in UVATodayand Released with permission.