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Digital Giza: Visualizing the Pyramids
The Pyramids on the Giza Plateau represent perhaps the most famous archaeological site in the world, capturing on tomb walls frozen moments from almost every aspect of life in ancient Egypt. This book, by one of the foremost experts on the history of Giza, explores new approaches to “cataloging” the site, highlighting efforts at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Harvard University.
The site experienced its first “golden age” as the burial place of three pharaohs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (Dynasty 4, ca. 2640–2510 BCE). A second golden age came almost five millennia later, when the first modern excavators applied their newly devised archaeological craft to the Giza Plateau. Now, with the advent of many new technologies in the twenty-first century, the Giza Necropolis is available in two, three, and even four dimensions. Children and specialized scholars alike may study the material culture of this ancient civilization from afar, often with greater access than could be achieved in person. However, these new approaches do raise Does 3-D modeling and animation truly improve scholarly comprehension and interpretation? Can interacting with animations still be called scholarship? Where is the border between academic knowledge and mere entertainment?
Through specific case studies and an in-depth history of this important project, Peter Der Manuelian provides an excellent model for other digital visualization initiatives. He also offers more general philosophical reflection on the nature of visualization in archaeology and speculates about emerging technologies and how they may be useful in the future.
The site experienced its first “golden age” as the burial place of three pharaohs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (Dynasty 4, ca. 2640–2510 BCE). A second golden age came almost five millennia later, when the first modern excavators applied their newly devised archaeological craft to the Giza Plateau. Now, with the advent of many new technologies in the twenty-first century, the Giza Necropolis is available in two, three, and even four dimensions. Children and specialized scholars alike may study the material culture of this ancient civilization from afar, often with greater access than could be achieved in person. However, these new approaches do raise Does 3-D modeling and animation truly improve scholarly comprehension and interpretation? Can interacting with animations still be called scholarship? Where is the border between academic knowledge and mere entertainment?
Through specific case studies and an in-depth history of this important project, Peter Der Manuelian provides an excellent model for other digital visualization initiatives. He also offers more general philosophical reflection on the nature of visualization in archaeology and speculates about emerging technologies and how they may be useful in the future.
256 pages, Paperback
Published September 5, 2016
10 people want to read
About the author
Peter der Manuelian
23 books9 followersPeter der Manuelian is the Philip J. King Professor of Egyptology and the Director of the Harvard Semitic Museum.
Peter der Manuelian grew up locally but somehow escaped speaking with a Boston accent. He joined both the NELC and Anthropology Departments in 2010, after teaching Egyptology at Tufts University for ten years. He has also been on the curatorial staff of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, since 1987, and held the position of Giza Archives Project Director there until June 2011 (he is now Founding Director, The Giza Archives). In addition to Giza, his Egyptian archaeological and epigraphic site work includes New Kingdom temples at Luxor (Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago), and the Predynastic site of Naqada.
His primary research interests include ancient Egyptian history, archaeology, epigraphy, the development of mortuary architecture, and the (icono)graphic nature of Egyptian language and culture in general. He has published on diverse topics and periods in Egyptian history, but currently focuses on the third millennium BC, and specifically on the famous Giza Necropolis, just west of modern Cairo. The Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition excavated major portions of the site between 1905 and 1947. Since 2000, the "Giza Archives Project" aims to collect and present online all past, present, and future archaeological activity at Giza (http://www.gizapyramids.org).
Interested in both ancient and modern graphic design-"publishing" in the widest sense of the word-he believes in bringing new technologies into his research and into the classroom. Among his current projects are the publication of elite Giza tombs west of the Great Pyramid, a biography of Harvard archaeologist George A. Reisner, and the development of electronic tools to aid in teaching Egyptian hieroglyphic grammar.
Peter der Manuelian grew up locally but somehow escaped speaking with a Boston accent. He joined both the NELC and Anthropology Departments in 2010, after teaching Egyptology at Tufts University for ten years. He has also been on the curatorial staff of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, since 1987, and held the position of Giza Archives Project Director there until June 2011 (he is now Founding Director, The Giza Archives). In addition to Giza, his Egyptian archaeological and epigraphic site work includes New Kingdom temples at Luxor (Epigraphic Survey, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago), and the Predynastic site of Naqada.
His primary research interests include ancient Egyptian history, archaeology, epigraphy, the development of mortuary architecture, and the (icono)graphic nature of Egyptian language and culture in general. He has published on diverse topics and periods in Egyptian history, but currently focuses on the third millennium BC, and specifically on the famous Giza Necropolis, just west of modern Cairo. The Harvard University-Boston Museum of Fine Arts Expedition excavated major portions of the site between 1905 and 1947. Since 2000, the "Giza Archives Project" aims to collect and present online all past, present, and future archaeological activity at Giza (http://www.gizapyramids.org).
Interested in both ancient and modern graphic design-"publishing" in the widest sense of the word-he believes in bringing new technologies into his research and into the classroom. Among his current projects are the publication of elite Giza tombs west of the Great Pyramid, a biography of Harvard archaeologist George A. Reisner, and the development of electronic tools to aid in teaching Egyptian hieroglyphic grammar.
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November 22, 2018
Exciting book about the excavations of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and Harvard University in the Giza necropolis and the resulting Digital Giza project. The future of Egyptology is here!
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