Stadtarchäologie - Workshop 7

Virtual Reconstruction of Ancient Egyptian Temples: The Prospects and Problems of Developing a 3D Online Resource

This paper reports on the possibilities of, and problems arising from, electronically reproducing a series of destroyed historic sites from their archaeological finds.
One of the effective ways to promote and provide archaeological resources is to address the limitation on exploring real artefacts by creating a virtual archaeological site equipped with 3D visualisation utility. The flexible nature of virtual reality (VR) environment appears to be suitable for reproducing a full-scale 3D model of archaeological sites that can be combined with databases and web pages; thus offering an intuitively comprehensible, learning and teaching resource. This is of immense importance for archaeological studies as it opens up many new dimensions in understanding and simulating such sites. However, 3D models also have a major problem; their visual impact is so persuasive that users assume the model as the definitive form whereas in fact, what they see in most cases are merely a visual representation of a speculation at its best.
As part of a three-year initiative* for producing online materials of learning and teaching resources on ancient Egypt-we have developed a series of low-end, 3D models. The models were then disseminated in a web-based context so that various publics could view the exhibits as well as consider a reconstruction for itself.
In this paper, we will begin by illustrating some of the models, and we then discuss the possibilities and limitations of using such models as a medium for online learning and teaching resource. In particular, we will draw on user's survey carried out earlier this year, and we argue that 3D models are effective and can also provide the right impression if carefully combined with web-based contents and also through comparison with other 3D models.

*"Digital Egypt for Universities" is a three-year project to create online learning and teaching resource, funded by JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee) and is currently carried out by Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (please refer to http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/digital_egypt/ for more information).

Narushige Shiode
Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London n.shiode@ucl.ac.uk

Virtual Reconstruction of Ancient Egyptian Temples: The Prospects and Problems of Developing a 3D Online Resource This paper reports on the possibilities of, and problems arising from, electronically reproducing a series of destroyed historic sites from their archaeological finds. One of the effective ways to promote and provide archaeological resources is to address the limitation on exploring real artefacts by creating a virtual archaeological site equipped with 3D visualisation utility. The flexible nature of virtual reality (VR) environment appears to be suitable for reproducing a full-scale 3D model of archaeological sites that can be combined with databases and web pages; thus offering an intuitively comprehensible, learning and teaching resource. This is of immense importance for archaeological studies as it opens up many new dimensions in understanding and simulating such sites. However, 3D models also have a major problem; their visual impact is so persuasive that users assume the model as the definitive form whereas in fact, what they see in most cases are merely a visual representation of a speculation at its best. As part of a three-year initiative* for producing online materials of learning and teaching resources on ancient Egypt-we have developed a series of low-end, 3D models. The models were then disseminated in a web-based context so that various publics could view the exhibits as well as consider a reconstruction for itself. In this paper, we will begin by illustrating some of the models, and we then discuss the possibilities and limitations of using such models as a medium for online learning and teaching resource. In particular, we will draw on user's survey carried out earlier this year, and we argue that 3D models are effective and can also provide the right impression if carefully combined with web-based contents and also through comparison with other 3D models. *"Digital Egypt for Universities" is a three-year project to create online learning and teaching resource, funded by JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee) and is currently carried out by Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, and the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, University College London (please refer to http://www.petrie.ucl.ac.uk/digital_egypt/ for more information).