Ancient Egypt Brought To Life With Virtual Model Of Historic Temple Complex

From ScienceDaily

      For the past two years, a team of UCLA Egyptologists, digital modelers, web designers, staff and students has been building a three-dimensional virtual-reality model of the ancient Egyptian religious site known as Karnak, one of the largest temple complexes ever constructed.


      The result is Digital Karnak, a high-tech model that runs in real time and allows users to navigate 2,000 years of history at the popular ancient Egyptian tourist site near modern-day Luxor, where generations of pharaohs constructed temples, chapels, obelisks, sphinxes, shrines and other sacred structures beginning in the 20th century B.C.
      In recent years, scientists, historians and archaeologists around the world have embraced the 3-D modeling of cultural heritage sites. Information technology has permitted them to recreate buildings and monuments that no longer exist or to digitally restore sites that have been damaged by the passage of time. The results can be used both in research, to test new theories, and in teaching, to take students on virtual tours of historical sites they are studying.
      Favro, who directs the ETC, brings her expertise as an architectural and urban historian to these digital cultural-mapping projects, as well as her familiarity with the challenges and impact of large-scale interdisciplinary projects.
      The Digital Karnak project is funded and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Steinmetz Family of Los Angeles.


Tags: digital, virtual reality, historical sites