Giza 3D: Digital Archaeology and Scholarly Access to the Giza Pyramids
Based on more than a decade’s work, the Giza Project at Harvard is blending older traditional archives (excavation photos, archaeological drawings, object metadata) with extremely realistic 3D visualization of the famous Pyramids, Sphinx, and surrounding tombs and temples just west of modern Cairo (3rd millennium BC). This seamless marriage of old and new provides revolutionary access to Giza, its statues, hieroglyphic inscriptions, architecture, and wall decoration. These are the primary sources for all aspects of ancient Egyptian civilization, cross-referenced and accessible, for scholars, teachers, students, and the world community. Real-time immersive models allow us to pose new research questions, provide revolutionary and interactive classroom instruction, and investigate diachronic approaches to Giza’s evolution over several millennia. The computer models provide unique perspectives that no archaeologist has previously enjoyed, such as from below ground, or soaring high above the Pyramids of the pharaohs. Finds are returned to their findspots virtually from collections the world over, for we can now restore their archaeological context. And simulations, from the sun’s interaction with the ancient monuments, to the scale of royal statuary adorning the temples, help us to understand the choices the Egyptians made in constructing this vast archaeological site. Whether over the web, or on large screens in university visualization centers, Giza 3D can resolve archaeological problems that were previously unsolvable even out at the site itself. This online digital “publication” serves as a heritage management resource, a unique teaching tool, and an archaeological repository. The Giza models and website illustrate the best practices for the recreation and exploration of ancient Egyptian culture during one of its most critical periods.
