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Archaeological Visualization

 

Other Archaeology/Historic Preservation areas:

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Upper Nodena Village VisualizationsWithin the Center's larger initiatives in visualization and animation are projects specifically focusing on visualization of the past. Visualization is a particularly important and powerful approach to expanding our understanding of the past. Vision is a (perhaps "the") powerful way in which humans encounter and experience their environment and using vision can be essential in growing our perception and understanding of the past. With very few exceptions the evidence of the past that have endured today are, at best, attenuated and damaged versions of what they once were. In many cases, particularly in areas such as the U.S., much of the past is below the ground and essentially invisible to the modern eye. In some cases actually visiting archaeological sites can actually damage the resource --- and so "virtual" visits may be the best way to encounter these site.

Analytical Visualization

While much valuable work has focused on developing high quality "images" of archaeological sites and monuments, a major area of effort for which the Center uses visualization to expand the analytical understanding of the past. In using visualization at the Roman city of Ostia, for example, the focus is on questions such as understanding how urban space was perceived and experience by different classes of Romans. Visualization is used to expand the understanding of the organization of space and the explicit and implicit architectural design principles that under lie the city's form and structure.

Mensuration and Visualization

There is considerable synergy between the Center's efforts in geomatics and visualization. In particular data developed using photogrammetric and laser scanning methods are valuable elements in visualization.