3D Imaging and Archaeology

Software to produce three-dimensional images of old buildings has been around for a few years, but the technology just gets better and better. Case in point is the new website 3D Ancient Wonders, which is a labor of love by a British company called Imigea Ltd. Their website has 3D reconstructions of the Parthenon, Cheops aka Khufu's Pyramid, and Stonehenge, among others, that allow you to wander through the ancient reconstructed buildings.

• 3D Ancient Wonders, Imigea's webpage
• 3D Art History, including links to other such projects
• Computer Imaging, which includes papers on how one does such a thing and how the technology can be used to model existing ruins (rather than reconstructions)

These reconstruction efforts are still somewhat controversial from an academic standpoint, because they are pretty plastic rather than realistic, and by definition they're based on best-guess (and what two archaeologists ever agreed on anything let alone what an ancient building looked like), but they are fun, dang it.