Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids» Talking Pyramids: Ancient Egyptian Pyramids News

The 3D Giza Plateau & Virtual Archaeology

Vincent — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 03:36:18 +0000

Experience the Giza Plateau in 3D

The Giza Archives Project at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has for many years been the most extensive online resource on the archaeology of the Giza Plateau. Much of the archived material is from the 40 years of excavations carried out by Egyptologist George Reisner who led the the Harvard University-Boston MFA expedition at Giza from 1902 to 1942.

Now the Giza Archives Project has moved into the virtual arena with the release of Giza 3D!

However, this is not the first time the project has used 3D immersive technology to explore the possibilities of ‘Virtual Egyptology’. About four years ago the Giza Archives Project developed a presence in the online virtual platform Second Life with an exhibit featuring ten mastaba-tombs of Cemetery G2100 at Giza.

A scene from the tomb of Merib in Giza Archives 'Cemetery G 2100' in Second Life

Now, with the help of Dassault Systèmes, the 3D software company that worked with Jean-Pierre Houdin to create ‘Khufu Revealed’, a fully immersive interactive experience of the tombs of the Giza Plateau will be created for both specialists and the general public.

According to the Dassault Systèmes website, the partnership will “imagine new forms of multi-platform experiences, whether individual or collective, through Internet devices or through more complex virtual and augmented reality systems, using game consoles, 3D screens or even movie theaters willing to create new kinds of archeological immersive interactions…” and “…will result in new forms of scientific inquiry and communication. Virtual archaeology, using the power of scientific simulation tools and 3D immersive experiences, raises new questions, offers new hypotheses and allows us to simulate them in virtual environments.

Unlike attempts by other companies to recreate ancient Egyptian artefacts and environments in 3D, this real-time virtual reconstruction of the Giza Plateau is accurately replicated by using actual archaeological data. As such, it has great potential as an educational research tool.

As Peter Der Manuelian put it:

“These tools and approaches offer new dimensions to Egyptological research, allowing for innovation and enhanced knowledge sharing. In Dassault Systèmes we found a company partner devoted to both scientific accuracy and technological creativity.”

Watch the video flythrough of the interactive application showing some of the tombs located at the Giza plateau:

References:
Giza 3D
Giza Archives Project
Virtual Giza
Giza Cemetery 2100 in SecondLife

Ancient Egyptian Art – the Menkaure Triad

Vincent — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:28:42 +0000

Some of you might have followed Leena’s last painting, Cleopatra & Caesarion from the back wall of the temple of Hathor at Denderah.

Leena at work on Cleopatra & Caesarion

Utelising the power of the Internet, every few days Leena would share her latest developments with us by posting photos on her blog, Ancient Egyptian Art. Some of the difficulties experienced and the different techniques used were described which gave us insight into the painting process.

It was fun to watch over the artist’s shoulder as the work progressed over the weeks. Observers soon became involved, I was finding photos of the subject taken by past travellers and sending them to Leena and making use of Twitter to attract more attention. Another follower, Hans also sent some photos which were used as references for the piece. One interested reader, Barry even travelled to the temple for Leena specifically to take photographs of the parts of the relief that were not clear on existing photos.

In case you missed it you can read all the posts starting from here and follow it all the way to the end here.

If you have been keeping an eye on the “Breaking News” section on the right side of this blog you’ve probably already noticed Leena has started a new artwork. This time the paints have been put aside in exchange for graphite & a scraper board and she is now tackling the Old Kingdom statue of Menkaure, Hathor and goddess of the Diospolis Parva nome. The graywacke statue dates to the Fourth Dynasty, 2720 BC and is currently housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

Leena describes how she started this piece:

I have to admit I could not resist – I got my scraping board and started working on the Menkaure triad already.

First the sketch: First it had to be drawn, then transferred to the scraper board (by coloring the back of the drawing with graphite and re-drawing with a sharp pen so that the drawing transferred to the board). And because graphite may wear off while I work on this, I had to use the scalpel to do tiny nicks along the lines.

Watch the slideshow below to see the art grow…

Show picture list

[Show as slideshow]

Here is a photograph of the subject:

The Menkaure Triad in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

You can continue following the development of the Menkaure Triad as Leena keeps a journal of her progress on her blog, Ancient Egyptian Art.

Photos used with Leena’s permission, all rights reserved.
Photo of the Menkaure Statue triad is in the Public Domain.

JSesh Hieroglyph Software Update 3.0

Vincent — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:26:42 +0000

Serge Rosmorduc has just announced on the AEL wires that a new version of his free hieroglyphic editor, JSesh has been released.

JSesh is an excellent tool to help you study the ancient Egyptian language and this new release brings the software up to version 3.0.

Here is what Serge said:

I have the pleasure to announce version 3.0 of JSesh. Thanks to M. Thomas’ work, the full Manuel de Codage (or, in other terms, the “extended library”) is now covered by JSesh (save a few signs here and there, which will be fixed in the near future). So JSesh 3.0 is essentially JSesh 2.13, but with complete X, Y and Z families. I thought however that a full coverage of the Manuel de Codage warranted a new version number.

Visit the JSesh website to read more about it and download the latest verison of the software.

Back in the Lab with Anonymous Man

Vincent — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:10:08 +0000

The Brooklyn Museum is back in the lab today to follow on from where they left off on Tuesday.

Shelly is once again live blogging the event on Twitter, and posting photos, which can be viewed here on this post.

Show picture list

[Show as slideshow]

Just like on Tuesday, you can send your questions and comments to Shelly live using your Twitter account, just send a message to @brooklynmuseum and be sure to include with your message the hashtag #mummywrap and it will end up in the conversation. The live reporting, questions and answers will all be accessible below.

*UPDATE: The live re-wrapping has come to an end for the day. The process will be ‘wrapped up’ next week on Tuesday at 9:30 EST.

All images, video and tweets are reproduced here with permission from the Brooklyn Museum.

More:
Brooklyn Museum blog: Live Tweeting Mummy Wrapping and Conservator Q&A Tuesday!
Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition, the Mummy Chamber.
Brooklyn Museum on Flickr, Twitter, TwitPic, TwitVid

Re-wrapping a Mummy Live in the Lab!

Vincent — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:12:12 +0000

The Brooklyn Museum returns to the lab today to re-wrap the “Anonymous Man” to prepare him for display in the Mummy Chamber exhibition.

Shelly Bernstein, the Brooklyn Museum’s Chief of Technology, is live blogging the event again on Twitter, coming to you direct from the lab. She’ll be giving us a running commentary on what the Conservators are doing as the day unfolds.

Do you have a question?

Using your own Twitter account, just send a message to @brooklynmuseum and be sure to include with your message the hashtag #mummywrap and it will end up in the conversation. The live reporting, questions and answers will all be accessible below.

This fun, behind-the-scenes look will kick off around today at 9:30 EST or 14.30 GMT.

*UPDATE: The show is over for today but will pick up again on Thursday at 9:30am EST. The conversation continues on Twitter with the #mummywrap hashtag.

Show picture list

[Show as slideshow]

All images, video and tweets are reproduced here with permission from the Brooklyn Museum.

More:
Brooklyn Museum blog: Live Tweeting Mummy Wrapping and Conservator Q&A Tuesday!
Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition, the Mummy Chamber.
Brooklyn Museum on Flickr
Brooklyn Museum on Twitter

Giza: An Interactive Panorama

Vincent — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:15:17 +0000

Another 360 degree panoramic view of the Giza Plateau has been made and put online, this one is by Jordi at ViewAt.

They are best viewed in full screen mode so look for the small icon in the lower right corner to launch into full screen. You can zoom in and out using the scroll wheel on the mouse, by shift and control keys on your keyboard, or by clicking on the plus and minus signs on the botom right corner of the screen.

Explore the plateau now by clicking “play” below.

The following areas in Egypt are also available at ViewAt:

Giza Plateau
Karnak Temple
Philae Temple Trojan chapel
Aperitif at the Hotel Old Cataract, Aswan
Edfu Temple
Statue of Horus at the Temple of Edfu
Valley of the Kings
Hatshetsut Temple
Medinet Habu

Vygus Ancient Egyptian Dictionary Updated

Vincent — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 01:25:19 +0000

Mark Vygus has updated his excellent dictionary. The dictionary, which can be downloaded (8.3 mb) for free, is a very usefull addition to any linguist’s tool box. Having such a dictionary in digital format enables one to quickly and easily search the entire repository of over 30 500 words.

The format is: Hieroglyphs, Transliteration, English, Gardiner code.

An excerpt from Mark Vygus' Dictionary

Mark writes:

For those of you who are interested, I have a new update to my dictionary. It now has 30500 entries (which include a lot of alternate spellings). I have also added at the end of the dictionary a 13 page index of all the ‘initial glyphs’ used for words, so if you don’t know the transliteration you can look up which page the glyph appears on.

You can access the dictionary from the Tools page at Pyramid Texts Online along with a range of other useful tools for studying the ancient Egyptian language.