CT-scanner and a sagittal CT- slice of a human cranium

Usually, standard medical imaging techniques are used for such volume recording. Computed Tomography (CT) is especially useful when studying fossil skeletal remains such as bones and teeth. CT scans are composed of stacks of slices (cross sections) consisting of digital picture units called voxels (three-dimensional pixels). The volume data can be viewed either slice by slice or rendered as an object with a realistic three-dimensional surface. The virtual object can be displayed on the computer screen scaled, magnified, rotated, cut, moved, measured or photographed.

A related kind of data, but acquired with a different method based on radiofrequency pulses, is produced by Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). In contrast to CT, this technique is sensitive to hydrogen nuclei spin orientation and thus best applicable to specimens in vivo because of the water they contain. Mineralized bone delivers none or only weak signals but soft tissue like brain or organ tissue is well perceived.