Rita Lucarelli creates 3D images of ancient Egyptian coffins. Using Agisoft Photoscan, the Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Studies and her team transform 2D photographs into 3D models before annotating the virtual figures with transliterations, translations, and other relevant data. Since Egyptian hieroglyphics adorning funerary materials were copied and read from different directions, 3D interaction with digitized images provides better access to the texts of such objects than traditional 2D representations.

DH Fellow Rita Lucarelli, Assistant Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, researches religion, magic, and funerary culture in ancient Egypt. Her current work engages the Book of the Dead and how it is adapted to various artifacts. Lucarelli’s digital project focuses on creating highly detailed, annotated 3D models of these funerary objects to better understand the materiality of the Book of the Dead texts.

3D modeling offers digital humanists new ways to engage with material culture, restore context to decayed or destroyed spaces, and share resources with both members of the public and researchers around the world. These upcoming workshops will explore two different tools 3D modeling and how they have been applied to digital humanities projects.

Read about how DH Fellows are applying these methods to their research and teaching on the DH blog.

The Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology is raising funds through October 15th to bring The Doctor, a gargantuan Egyptian coffin lid, to the public for the Museum’s grand re-opening in 2016. The 2,500 year-old stone coffin lid weighs three tons and is a particularly rare item in the Heart’s collections.

On August 24th, the Visual Resources Center (VRC) hosted a workshop and several presentations on photogrammetric and 3D modeling tools and techniques. DH Fellow Lisa Trever, Assistant Professor in History of Art, presented her ongoing work on excavated murals at Pañamarca, Peru. This summer, she was joined by DH Interns Isabella Warren, a M.Arch student at the College of Environmental Design and Ashley Jerbic, a senior undergraduate in History of Art and Art Practice.