Abstract
This article presents a digital reconstruction of Salt man 4 (405–380 BCE), a salt miner’s mummy found in the Douzlākh salt mine (Chehrābād, northern Iran). The mummy and its costume are relatively well preserved because the salt mine offers good preservation conditions for organic finds. Salt man 4 is unique in that his garments are a complete set of worker’s gear. This offers an exceptional opportunity to study garments worn during heavy physical work in ancient times. An international research team has been conducting an in-depth study of the mummy since 2004. The results include measurements, photographs, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans and descriptions, which taken together provide a good basis for a digital reconstruction. This article describes technical features of the reconstruction process and challenges that were solved to reproduce the garments. The reconstruction opens new ways of studying the costume in virtual reality using computer graphics and computer-aided design tools to obtain further insights into ancient mining clothes within the broader area of digital humanities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aali A, Stöllner T (eds) (2015) The archaeology of the salt miners. Interdisciplinary research 2010–2014, Metalla 21, 1–2/2014. Deutsches Bergbau Museum, Bochum.
Aali A, Stöllner T, Abar A, Rühli F (2012) The salt men of Iran. The salt mine of Douzlakh, Chehrābād. Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt 42(1):61–81.
Adobe (2020a) Substance designer official website. https://www.substance3d.com/products/substance-designer/, accessed 20 Aug 2020.
Adobe (2020b) Documentation for the Substance products. Substance Painter. Nodes reference. https://docs.substance3d.com/sddoc/nodes-reference-129368078.html, accessed 28 Jul 2020.
Barber EJW (1991) Prehistoric textiles: The development of cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Age with special reference to the Aegean. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Blender Foundation (2020) Blender. Open source 3D creation official website. https://www.blender.org/, accessed 17 Sept 2020.
Bogović S, Stjepanovič Z, Cupar A, Jevšnik S, Rogina-Car B, Rudolf A (2019) The use of new technologies for the development of protective clothing: Comparative analysis of body dimensions of static and dynamic postures and its application. AUTEX Research Journal 19(4):301–311. https://doi.org/10.1515/aut-2018-0059.
CLO Virtual Fashion (2020) Clo3d official website. https://www.clo3d.com/, accessed 28 Jul 2020.
Cybulska M (2010) Reconstruction of archaeological textiles. FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe 18, No. 3(80):100–105.
Cybulska M (2012) To see the unseen. Computer graphics in visualization and reconstruction of archaeological and historical textiles. In: Mukai N (ed.) Computer graphics. InTech, Rijeka, p. 213–228.
Cybulska M (2020) Woman’s costume in the territories of Poland during the Roman Period. Reconstruction based on finds from Nowy Łowicz in Pomerania. FIBRES & TEXTILES in Eastern Europe 28, No. 5(143):124–129.
Cybulska M, Mianowska-Orlińska E (2015) Analysis, reconstruction and interpretation of two early Medieval embroideries from Kruszwica. In: Grömer K, Pritchard F (eds) Aspects of the design, production and use of textiles and clothing from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Era. The North European symposium of archaeological textiles, 21 May 2014 in Hallstatt, Austria. NESAT XII. Archaeolingua 33, Budapest, p 311–321.
Cybulska M, Kuberski S, Maik J, Orlińska-Mianowska E (2013) Figural embroidery from Tum Collegiate Church – analysis, reconstruction and identification. In: Banck-Burgess J, Nübold C (eds) The North European symposium for archaeological textiles XI, 10–13 May 2011 in Esslingen am Neckar. NESAT XI. Verlag Marie Leidorf GmbH, Rahden, p 185–191.
Falck M, Lichtwark F (eds) (1996) Ägypten. Schätze aus dem Wüstensand. Kunst und Kultur der Christen am Nil. Katalog zur Ausstellung. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden.
Grömer K, Aali A (2016) Durchdacht gemacht. Die Kleidung eines Salzmannes aus Chehrabad, Iran. Universum Magazin 3:108–109.
Grömer K, Bagherpour N (2018) The saltmummies of Zanjan. Textile research in Iran in a conservation and exhibition project. Archaeological Textiles Review 60:110–113.
Haghdoost AA, Mirzazadeh A, Alikhani S (2008) Secular trend of height variations in Iranian population born between 1940 and 1984. Iranian Journal of Public Health 37(1):1–7.
Jevšnik S, Stjepanovič Z, Rudolf A (2017) 3D virtual prototyping of garments: Approaches, developments and challenges. Journal of Fiber Bioengineering and Informatics 10(1):51–63. https://doi.org/10.3993/jfbim00253.
Kuzmichev V, Moskvin A, Moskvina M (2018a) Virtual reconstruction of historical men’s suit. AUTEX Research Journal 18(3):281–294. https://doi.org/10.1515/aut-2018-0001.
Kuzmichev V, Moskvin A, Moskvina M, Pryor J (2018b) Research on 3D reconstruction of late Victorian riding skirts. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology 30(6):790–807. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-12-2017-0192.
Kuzmichev V, Moskvin A, Surzhenko E, Moskvina M (2017) Computer reconstruction of 19th century trousers. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology 29(4):594–606. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-12-2016-0139.
Liu Y-J, Zhang D-L, Yuen M (2010) A survey on CAD methods in 3D garment design. Computers in Industry 61(6):576–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2010.03.007.
Moskvin A, Kuzmichev V, Moskvina M (2019) Digital replicas of historical skirts. The Journal of the Textile Institute 110(12):1810–1826. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405000.2019.1621042.
Moskvin A, Moskvina M, Kuzmichev V (2020) Parametric modeling of historical mannequins. International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology 32(3):366–389. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCST-06-2019-0093.
Pollard AM, Brothwell DR, Aali A, Buckley S, Fazeli H, Hadian Dehkordi M, Holden T, Jones AKG, Shokouhi JJ, Vatandoust R, Wilson AS (2008) Below the salt: A preliminary study of the dating and biology of five salt-preserved bodies from Zanjān province, Iran. Iran 46:135–150.
Pourtaghi G, Valipour F, Sadeghialavi H, Lahmi M (2014) Anthropometric characteristics of Iranian military personnel and their changes over recent years. The International Journal of Occupational and Environmental medicine 5(3):115–124.
Puszkarz AK, Machnowski W, Błasińska A (2020) Modeling of thermal performance of multilayer protective clothing exposed to radiant heat. Heat and Mass Transfer 56:1767–1775. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-020-02820-1.
Rudenko S (1970) Frozen tombs of Siberia. Dent, London.
Shahbazi S (2012) Clothing. ii. In the Median and Achaemenid periods. In: Encyclopædia Iranica, V(7):723–737. http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/clothing-ii, accessed 10 Sep 2020.
The MakeHuman team (2020) Make Human Official Website. http://www.makehumancommunity.org/, accessed 20 Aug 2020.
Watkins S M, LE Dunne (2015) Functional clothing design. Bloomsbury, London.
Wieczorek A, Lind C (2007) Ursprünge der Seidenstraße. Sensationelle Neufunde aus Xinjiang, China. Begleitbuch zur Ausstellung. Thesis, Stuttgart and Mannheim.
Wijnhoven MA, Moskvin A (2020) Digital replication and reconstruction of mail armour. Journal of Cultural Heritage. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2020.04.010.
Acknowledgements
The reconstruction would not have been possible without valuable contributions of all the individuals and organizations involved in Salt man projects. The authors would like to thank Gabriela Russ-Popa (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Lena M. Öhrström (University of Zurich) and Natascha Bagherpour Kashani (Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moskvin, A., Grömer, K., Moskvina, M., Kuzmichev, V., Stöllner, T., Aali, A. (2022). 3D Visualization of the 2400-Year-Old Garments of Salt Man 4 from Chehrābād, Iran. In: Ulanowska, A., Grömer, K., Vanden Berghe, I., Öhrman, M. (eds) Ancient Textile Production from an Interdisciplinary Perspective. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92170-5_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92170-5_18
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-92169-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-92170-5
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)