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Bringing a 13th century BC artifact to virtual reality
I developed this project at CITI, the Interdisciplinary Center for Interactive Technology at the University of São Paulo's Engineering School. There, I had the opportunity to develop tech projects with a lot of freedom, and I was able to work closely with USP's Museum of Archaelogy and Ethnology to scan their exact replica of the sarcophagus of King Ahiram of Byblos, made from the original and gifted by Lebanon to Brazil in the 1960s. The original remains in the Beirut National Museum.
Using the technology of photogrammetry, which I would later base my graduation project around, I was able to scan and digitize the sarcophagus with a stunning amount of detail, ultimately placing it into a virtual gallery and inviting guests to view it with an HTC Vive VR headset at USP's International Archaeology Week.
This sarcophagus is particularly noteworthy as it represents the oldest alphabetical inscription ever discovered.
Technologies involved: Photogrammetry, VR, Unity, C#
The digitized sarcophagus, isolated after capture
The sarcophagus in its virtual gallery, running on Unity
Capturing the images for the digitization
An attendee interacts with the sarcophagus at the International Archaeology Week
The virtual sarcophagus (left) compared to the real thing in Beirut (right)
Another comparison between the virtual sarcophagus (left) and the real one (right), this time in extreme close-up
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