One of the ways that archaeologists learn about ancient civilizations is by examining the design and construction of their material goods. In particular, the study of pottery vessels plays an important role. Despite the fact that these artifacts are usually found broken into many pieces, the remaining sherds are well preserved and found in large quantities. Reconstructing the original vessels answers many questions concerning the types, quantities, and origins of these material goods, which in turn reveals much about the civilization who once used them.
Currently, the STITCH project is concerned with the assembly, or reconstruction, of pottery vessels from a collection of sherds. The sherds in this collection may come from one or more vessel whose design and construction are not known. From the broken fragments, an expert archaeologist may infer some facts regarding the civilization, however to obtain more meaningful information, they often resort to reconstructing individual vessels; a task which requires a long time and much patience. Thus, the goal of the STITCH project is to develop methods for completing this process in an efficient and automatic fashion.
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