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COS 598C / HLS 598 - Reconstructing the Thera Frescoes |
Spring 2007 |
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The archaeological site of Akrotiri on the island of Thera (modern-day Santorini) has proven a treasure trove of information about Aegean civilization and culture. Among its most valued artifacts are wall paintings (frescoes), which have been preserved in the volcanic ash since the sixteenth century BCE. The frescoes, however, are typically recovered in fragments of a few centimeters to a few tens of centimeters in length, and reconstructing complete wall sections from the fragments occupies a major portion of the effort at Akrotiri.
As part of this course, students will build a system that will assist archaeologists by digitizing excavated fragments and automatically proposing matches on the basis of color, 3-D shape, and other cues. This will allow for a more rapid and more complete reconstruction of the wall paintings, with less handling of the physical fragments. Students will work with devices such as 3-D scanners, will investigate algorithms for 2-D and 3-D matching, and will learn about the application of these technologies in an archaeological setting.
TTh 3:00-4:20, Computer Science room 301
Szymon Rusinkiewicz |
Tim Weyrich |