Virtual Archaeology : Re-Creating Ancient Worlds

by Maurizio Forte, Alberto Siliotti (Editor)

Virtual Archaeology gives readers a startlingly real sense of how significant archaeological sites around the world once looked. Combining never-before-published aerial photography and high-definition, three-dimensional computer reconstructions with clear, informative descriptions of the various sites, this innovative descriptions of the various sites, this innovative book uses the latest scientific and archaeological tools to visualize the wonder of the past.

The exciting "virtual" tour, highlighted with over 650 dazzling color images, leads readers down the streets of Pompeii before its destruction and into the palace of King Minos in Crete when its walls were brightly painted. It journeys to China as a great terra-cotta army is buried with the first emperor and to the American Southwest when Anasazi Indians carved the stone walls of their pueblos. Contributions by a team of archaeologists describe sites ranging from Gize, Troy, Abu Simbel, and Susa to ancient Japan, Teotihucan, Bactria, and pre-Inca Peru, all pictured in the amazing high-resolution renderings.

Genres: Science

294 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1997

Reviews

[Michael Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I read a lot of popular archaeology, I somehow missed seeing this one when it first came out. Thirteen years ago, I imagine it would have been fascinating. Now, computer graphics has advanced so far and so fast, many of the images in this book remind me of nothing so much as the background graphics in DOOM. It was originally published in Italian, but there’s plenty of coverage of Egypt, Anatolia, East Asia, and the New World. The text is quite good but the photos of actual models and museum reconstructions are more useful than the “computer reconstruction” (which, of course, are the work of programmers, not the computers themselves). And there aren’t nearly as many of those as the title would suggest. I’d like to see a thorough reworking of this project using current technology -- and without the word “virtual” in the title.