University of Arkansas Resource Center for Heritage Visualization

The Narrows, a local rock shelter in Northwest Arkansas, is known by archeologists and locals alike for a series of painted petroglyphs located on its rock walls. The site is a “cliff overhang” about 15 feet deep and 30 feet wide that was inhabited by a American tribe, the Caddo, an estimated 500 years ago. Several panels of painted petroglyphs depicting human figures are associated with the Caddoan occupation and are still visible at the site today. With the protection of the rock overhang, the estimated 30 glyphs have been remarkably preserved, however, because of the site’s accessibility it has continued to be looted and disturbed for the last 60 years.

The Optech ILRIS 3D laser profiler was used to obtain a scaled replica of the shelter and the associated petroglyphs. The resulting data are an accurate mapping of the rock surface which could not have been as easily or as accurately obtained by traditional surveying techniques. The 3D model of the shelter provides archeologists with the means to study and analyze the site without having to visit it.

It further provides a sort of “digital copy” of the site that can be revisited in future studies as the site continues to change over the years.

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The Swartkrans GIS Project
Using Geographic Information Systems to explore cave taphonomy
Gauteng, North West Province, South Africa

The Lower Pleistocene fossil site of Swartkrans has been excavated periodically since 1948 by Robert Broom and John Robinson and, most recently, by C.K. Brain. Brain’s last major effort ended more than fourteen years ago. This cave site has yielded the single largest sample of the early hominid species Paranthropus robustus, and several specimens referred to as the human ancestor, Homo erectus.

Fossil remains and tools found at the site of Swartkrans have been attributed to a variety of taphonomic stimuli such as hominid activity, carnivore activity, alluvial deposition and gravitation. In fact, accumulations at this and other Plio-Pleistocene cave sites in South Africa have probably resulted from a combination of these factors. This webpage presents information on a method developed to allow researchers to archive and visualize fossil, artifact, and geological data in their spatial contexts, and to further explore taphonomic factors responsible for such accumulations.

A 3D Geographic Information System (GIS) was built with data from a variety of sources: 1) a 1999 survey using a laser theodolite to record spatial coordinates for remaining geological features; 2) the digitization of CK Brain’s field diagrams from the final seven years of excavation to reconstruct the original geology of the site; and 3) a relational database including information on more than 20,000 vertebrate fossils (macrofauna) and artifacts.

This study uses a new 3D approach combining Intergraph’s Voxel Analyst and ESRI’s Arcview 3D Analyst to overcome this limitation. Results present an accurate three-dimensional model of the site and its contents for data storage and analysis.

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Scanning Old Main – A Preliminary Assessment
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Old Main is the oldest building on the University of Arkansas campus. Constructed in 1875, it became the first official University building three years after the University’s inception in January of 1872. This redbrick building with a Mansard roof is a beautiful example of 19th century Second Empire style architecture.

The goal of the project was to create a 3D model of this historic building for publication on the Internet and to maintain a model from which accurate measurements can be derived.

A detailed article on the work is available in the recent issue of the professional survey magazine POB.

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New Approaches to the Use and Integration of Multi-Senso Remote Sensing for Historic Resource Identification and Evaluation.
Kasita Town, Silver Bluff, Escondida Pueblo, Army City, Whistling Elk, Mount Comfort Sites.

The research focus of this project is the development of powerful new analytical approaches that demonstrate the effectiveness of non-invasive archeological methods and the deployment of tools that offer an opportunity to recover a great deal of information about site content while reducing costs associated with traditional archaeological survey and excavation.Exploration and assessment of the benefits of combining a large suite of ground, aerial and space-based sensor data for the detection of subsurface archaeological features is central to this research.

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Spiro Micro-Topography Study
Spiro Mounds Archeological Park, Spiro, Oklahoma

Spiro is one of the most important Mississippian sites in North America. Located in eastern Oklahoma, the site is characterized three types of mounds; one burial mound, two temple mounds, and nine house mounds; ceremonial plazas and supporting city environs.

This study focuses on Brown Mound, a temple mound which has been both looted and excavated in the past. A goal of the project was to generate a higher resolution contour map than the existing 25 cm contour interval map shown below. Additional objectives of the project included generation of a five cm resolution digital elevation model (DEM) and creation of a 3D model of the mound.

Fieldwork photos are here. February. March. April.

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Creating Realistic Animation Through EAST (CRATE)

High school students spent two summers on the Parkin project. The goal of the project was to generate a 3D recreation of the 16th century Parkin archeological site, the Indian village of Casqui located in NE Arkansas.

The project's products include:

Awakening of the Guard - Animated movie of the interior of the Native American Casqui home. Year 1 Animation Year 2 Animation
	St. Francis Flyover - Animated flyover of the prehistoric landscape and area of St. Francis river along the Casqui Villiage
Power Point - The students created a power point presentation explaining how the project was completed.	Year 1 PPT Year 2 PPT
	Virtual Exhibits - Several interactive movies of objects and the home were created, these are Quicktime VR's that the user can navigate through with the use of the mouse. Year 1 Year 2
Posters - Three posters where completed for the project, a comparison of last years to this years project, information on rendering and images of the St. Francis Flyover.	Year 1 Posters Year 2 Posters

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Domus Romana

Final Project Latin 3003 Ovid Fall 2004

This project was assigned in Latin 3003 (Ovid) for several reasons. First, the students read the entire Metamorphoses in translation, and it seemed appropriate for them to gain some understanding of where these myths appear in Roman culture outside of literature. Many of the myths in the Metamorphoses are found in actual houses from Pompeii, often in surprising forms and combinations. Further, in designing and decorating rooms in a virtual Roman house, students could begin to imagine how they might communicate power (or a cutting-edge sense of political dissatisfaction, or even sexual ambiguity) through their decorative choices. They could also begin to imagine how performances of Ovid or other Latin poetry in a Roman dining room or bath might interact with visual depictions of myth on the walls or floors. Last but not least, this project was an attempt to expose humanities students to 2D and 3D software, drawing, and image manipulation techniques. Classics is interdisciplinary by nature, and multimedia projects should challenge boundaries between art history, literature, and social history and encourage students to think holistically about antiquity. In general, universities must teach students visual as well as verbal communication skills, and classics is a great place to begin.

This virtual house was designed using SketchUp software from @Last; the decorative textures (paintings, mosaics) were developed using Adobe Photoshop. In Sketchup, problems were solved as they presented themselves: the basic blocks of the building were easy to draw, but how about the inward sloping roofs of the atrium and peristyle? Once we had these, how about the fluted columns? What sort of transition did the Romans themselves use between the columns and the roof, or between the column bases and floor of the peristyle or impluvium? Problems led us into more complex geometries, and the infamous "follow me" tool. For paintings and mosaics, we scanned pictures and then copied and flipped layers to make the basis for a continuous 3rd or 4th style scheme. Again, we learned as we went--our initial approach was to import images and "glue" them to walls, but at the end we relied much more on converting the images to materials and "painting" them on the walls in SketchUp. The beauty of this approach is that these painted textures can be repositioned in SketchUp, allowing for precise joins with walls, floors, and corners. Neither students nor professor had any knowledge of SketchUp when the semester began, and this necessarily led to comprises in complexity and "finish." However, SketchUp on the whole is not that difficult, and the Photoshop techniques were also fairly easy to master.

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Three-Dimensional Optical Scanning to Assess Erosion of Archaeological Sites, Yellowstone National Park, U.S.A.

High resolution (1-cm), three-dimensional images of archaeological sites exposed on the shore of Yellowstone Lake (Yellowstone National Park, USA) were acquired utilizing the High Accuracy/Resolution Landscape and Surface Characterization System (HARLS-CS). The HARLS-CS deployed during August 2004 in Yellowstone National Park was composed of an Optech ILRIS 3D laser profiler, Trimble 5700/5800 total station with GPS, and supporting software (e.g. Innovmetric PolyWorks and EOS PhotoModeler). Preliminary scans of archaeological sites at Osprey Beach and nearshore bluffs adjacent to 48YE449 and 48YE395 provided extraordinarily detailed 3-D imagery that will serve as reference images to quantify erosion of these sites resulting from rain, wind, wave, and ice activity along the lakeshore during the next year. This demonstration project will provide resource managers unparalleled ability to accurately document degradation of important archaeological sites resulting from natural processes and will provide insight into the magnitude of lakeshore erosion/deposition with the aim of developing strategies for long-term management of critical cultural resources in the nation’s oldest national park.

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