Tutorial and dataset for gigapixel-like imaging strategies for dental anthropology

This tutorial and image dataset to accompany the following publication: Willman JC, Lozano M, Hernando R, Vergès JM. Gigapixel-like imaging strategies for dental anthropology: Applications for scientific communication and training in digital image analysis. Quaternary International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.05.027. Part of the Special Issue: Not Only Use.

Contains: tutorial, 183 images files for reconstructing three examples of gigapixel-like images, and one “READ ME” file describing the images.

The tutorial is meant to be used as a guideline for the creation of gigapixel-like (GPL) images of dental surfaces based on our experience. The methodology can be extrapolated to other types of materials and surfaces, but you may need to augment these guidelines according to the specificity of your own research needs. We hope that the inclusion of this supplement will stimulate other researchers to include specific guidelines and step-by-step processes for how they created their own GPL images. While this study concentrates on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, there are many other ways to acquire two-dimensional images (e.g., digital photography, optical light microscopy, etc.) that can be used to create GPL images. Likewise, the number of software packages and their numerous built-in parameters for creating extended focus and mosaic images vary greatly. Therefore, more tutorials/guidelines will surely improve the transparency and accessibility of the GPL methodology in the archaeological sciences, biological anthropology, and allied fields.