Phd in EARTH SCIENCES

Thesis title: This MUST be the place: preservation, valorisation and dissemination of the “hidden heritage” of the MUST

The main aim of this project was the valorisation and promotion of the collections stored in the MUST (University Museum of Earth Science, Sapienza University of Rome), to shed light, process and preserve this “hidden heritage” and make it accessible and enjoyable by the public at large and researchers alike. This was achieved through the drafting of a standard protocol for digitising and preserving collections, the compilation of a digital and interactive inventory of the museum’s contents, and the planning for the data sharing and dissemination on different levels of knowledge. The application of this protocol was carried out on the geo-paleontological historical collections of A. Portis and A. Tellini housed in the MUST. The Portis collection consists of over one hundred fossil specimens of Plio-Pleistocene vertebrates. This collection has been entirely digitalised in 3D with the Artec Space Spider blue light optical scanner. The data obtained made it possible to build a digital repository and to use those 3D models in augmented reality applications. The Tellini collection consists of over 6000 specimens, mainly benthic foraminifera. This collection has been digitally inventoried and catalogued following the ICCD national standards, which have been also critically reviewed and analysed in this thesis. In addition, it was possible to carry out a systematic revision of some taxa instituted by Tellini himself that are present in the collection held at MUST and the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences (Turin, IT). The most relevant among these are Nummulites bormiensis, Nummulites rosai and Nummulites saccoi. The digitisation protocol was also applied to develop a documentation workflow for diminutive tetrapod footprints, thanks to the collaboration with Nature Museum of South Tyrol. All these efforts culminated in the planning and conceptual design of the MUST route and the proposal for the layout of the second floor.