The ORION Project A European Union Thematic Network

This article presents a summary of the evolution and the main results obtained in the framework of the European ORION Project, developed between July 2002 and June 2003, whose main objective was the constitution of a Network of experts to create a Roadmap for the development and use of 3D technology in the field of archaeology and, more specifically, in archaeological museums. This summary is intended as a brief analysis of the main results obtained in the different stages of the project - Review of the practices and needs of archaeological museums and scientific and technological review -, stages which led to the final configuration of the Roadmap whose main recommendations and conclusions are summarised in the final part of this article.In order to achieve these objectives, a balanced Consortium of 12 members from 7 European countries was formed, bringing together leading museums and archaeological centres in the use of new technologies - with the National Museum of Scotland leading the project, the National Museum of Ireland and the Provincial Archaeological Museum of Alicante - as well as companies and universities with a strong technological character, where the technical responsibility was assumed by the Image Processing Group of the Polytechnic University of Madrid and the Athens Technology Center.