In the discipline of geoarchaeology, archaeological soil micromorphology – i.e. analyzing thin sections prepared from undisturbed blocks of soil and/or sediment – is an essential technique.  

Among others, these thin sections are analyzed using microscopic imaging techniques such as plane-polarized light (PPL), cross-polarized light (XPL) or oblique incident (OIL) light microscopy.

The digitization of the thin sections is getting increasingly relevant, as it clearly facilitates archiving, analyzing or sharing of the microscopic images.

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In this context, Gutiérrez-Rodríguez et al. (2018) have outlined in a comprehensive scientific study the need to obtain very detailed and accurate scans and to present these high-resolution data to the scientific community to make micromorphological findings and interpretations more transparent and easier to comprehend.  

Accordingly, the authors compared in their study different currently available imaging techniques for the digitization of thin sections. In addition to a flatbed scanner and a film scanner, the Microvisioneer manualWSI manual scanning technique was assessed.