Tencent Technology Innovates Archaeology and Cultural Relics Protection Efforts at China’s Sanxingdui

Tencent and the Sichuan Cultural Heritage Administration (SCHA) announced on Tuesday that they will work together to endorse the digital security and inheritance of cultural heritage in Sichuan Province, with a aim on the archaeological web page Sanxingdui in Guanghan.

A golden mask unearthed in the No. 5 sacrificial pit at the ruins. (Photo credit history: SCHA)

Below the cooperation, Tencent will support archaeological researchers to execute electronic archaeology and multi-dimensional electronic investigate on the Sanxingdui web-site making use of new-technology electronic systems, this kind of as Synthetic Intelligence (AI), massive facts, cloud computing, and know-how graphs. A digital archive will be proven to retail outlet Sanxingdui’s archaeological knowledge, contributing to endorsing the digital interpretation and conversion of the archaeological investigation achievements, and diversifying the public’s tactic to going through the web-site.

Sanxingdui is located on the banks of the Yazi River in Southwest China, and its background dates back more than 3,000 yrs. Initial uncovered in 1929, it wasn’t right until the 1980s that the significance of the website grew to become a lot more evident.

The electronic options used in the archaeological excavation of the Sanxingdui internet site implies a new design for the potential advancement of archaeology. The purposes will be vital in the two organizations’ very long-expression attempts in archaeological excavation and investigation with the new-technology electronic technology.

Relics unearthed in the No. 8 sacrificial pit at the ruins. (Picture credit history: Zhao Hao, an associate professor at the University of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University, task guide for the No.8 sacrificial pit.)

Restoring a big variety of unearthed relics that are damaged has often been a major job in archaeological do the job. The cutting-edge computer vision technological innovation can perform a vital job in serving to the restoration of unearthed relic fragments and the electronic reconstruction of their original kinds, in accordance to Zhang Zhengyou, chief scientist of Tencent and director of Tencent AI Lab.

Also, by creating a databases for relic fragments via 3D scanning, the probability of fixing can be calculated working with data these types of as color, texture, and form of the segment of utensils by means of AI. This enhances the performance drastically.

Additionally, the laptop or computer eyesight technological know-how is also expected in the classified examine of relics and the comparative examine of objects unearthed from a variety of web pages. Relics very similar in form, construction, and local texture can be successfully identified through personal computer vision know-how.

What is extra, if archaeological facts can be labeled with information and facts these as age or cultural assets in a substantial amount, which will be a normal pattern recognition problem for AI, contributing to the archaeological and cultural research through fast comparison.

Tencent has been devoted to the digitalization of society for a lot of many years. The enterprise has assisted the progress of digitization for the Forbidden City, one particular of the world’s greatest palaces, the most frequented museum in China.

The organization also served set up a digital tour for Dunhuang, a investing crossroads involving East and West on the ancient Silk Highway, and was concerned in the conservation endeavours of the Wonderful Wall.

Because the establishment of Tencent’s Sustainable Social Value Firm past calendar year, a electronic culture laboratory was established up to promote the sustainable defense, inheritance and ground breaking advancement of cultural heritage. Tencent will leverage its tech ecosystem, experience, and strengths for further cooperation with the SCHA.