Floyds Ancient Wonders: 3-D technology Preserves Ancient Treasures-Photos

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

3-D technology Preserves Ancient Treasures-Photos

Similar to how DNA banks are being created to store genetic data on endangered animals, archaeologists now are preserving archaeological treasures in the virtual world, for accuracy, ease of study, and in case real world problems, like erosion, lead to damage or destruction.

The new 3-D process, developed by a nonprofit organization Institute for Study and Integration of Graphical Heritage Techniques (called Insight), gradually is replacing old data-gathering techniques, which rely upon time-consuming single shot photography and hand-drawn images.

Insight's developers use a variety of technologies, combined with custom designed computer software, to digitally recreate buildings and objects.

Many archaeological sites worldwide are in peril. Recently, for example, the Taliban destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas, an American film crew damaged Machu Picchu, organized theft in Cambodia hurt Khmer antiquities and Egypt's Aswan Dam led to erosion of buildings and hieroglyphics. There is a race to record and preserve such treasures, and sometimes the recorded data is the only hope for posterity. Political and financial obstacles often prevent restoration.

The new technology will record monuments that are fast disappearing due to a rising water table in the Nile Valley. Previous efforts at epigraphic (wall relief) recording have taken up to 90 years for a single monument. No tomb has ever been completely recorded digitally. The speed at which this laser technique operates promises that less information will be lost to history and researchers.

Picture(s): Courtesy of Insight
This beginning model of the Parthenon was created by Jeremy Sears, one of the team members for INSIGHT's 1999 Pilot in Egypt.

Picture(s): Courtesy of Insight
For Bernard Maybeck's Palace of Fine Arts — the current home of San Francisco's Exploratorium — a prototype laser scanner was used to build this 3D model. 3-D data was combined with the Palace's original blueprints to create a short animated sequence that reflects Maybeck's unrealized design ideas for the building.

Picture(s): Courtesy of Insight

This image, showing the Incan site of Machu Picchu circa 1570, is based on existing archaeological research. Colors and texturing were drawn from research and photographs of the site.

Picture(s): Courtesy of Insight
A Sculpture in the British Museum
Through Insight, researchers can obtain the necessary equipment without charge. Projects using the technology are underway at sites in Cairo, Alexandria, London and San Francisco.
In Thebes, archaeologists are reconstructing a colossus of Ramses II that was destroyed by Christians hundreds of years ago. Like a puzzle, hundreds of pieces lay strewn on the ground. Cain and his team photographed each piece in 3-D on a revolving metal caster plate. Images were transferred to a computer program where the jigsaw puzzle was put together in virtual space. The new technology can record images accurate to 40 microns. Virtual reconstruction can serve as a roadmap and can help a committee reach a consensus about whether or not the colossus should in fact be rebuilt.
The above segment contains copyright material. Text and images courtesy of INSIGHT Reprinted with permission