Harvard, MFA Unveil Virtual 3D Tour Of Ancient Egyptian Pyramids
3D has become all the rage in movies and computer games, but the technology isn’t just for entertainment. Researchers at Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts are turning it into a learning tool, too. Beginning Tuesday, they’re offering you a free 3D virtual tour of the ancient pyramids of Egypt.
“I don’t play video games,” Peter Der Manuelian said with a laugh. “This is as close as I’ll ever come, but it’s great fun.”
Manuelian is one of the brains behind this project, called Giza 3D. He’s been fascinated by ancient Egypt ever since fourth-grade history, and he eventually turned that childhood fascination into a profession: he’s Harvard’s full-time Egyptologist. In a classroom with a curved floor-to-ceiling screen, he gave me some fancy battery-operated 3-D glasses. ...
This kind of “edu-tourism” has the potential to bring ancient Egypt to the masses, he said. A French software company with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Dassault Systemes, is behind this technology. One of its vice presidents, Mehdi Tayoubi, called the Giza 3D project the “democratization” of a high-tech tool.
“When a student is here, it’s like he’s in Giza traveling with Peter as a guide,” Tayoubi said. “But back at home, he’s able to connect online and to do the travel by himself and to look at some details not raised by Peter during his course,” Tayoubi said.
And when Giza 3D goes public Tuesday, you might be able to pay a virtual visit to ancient Egypt, too.
The site will go live early Tuesday morning.