I read a really fun post over at Gamesradar entitled, “The Top 7 Historical Figures Defamed by Video Games.” Most of the references were obscure or really bizzare. A lot were Asian warlords. Go ahead and check it out. It got me thinking about the time I wasted playing the game Caesar in Elementary School. I have a feeling this was a really key moment for me in starting to like Ancient History.
I was brought onto this game after I had mastered Sim City. I had created the ultimate city and was now ready for a new challenge. Let’s create a city in Ancient Rome. I had a blast. I wasted countless hours developing the ultimate city state. With a little help from some online gaming websites I had figured out the perfect formula.
Soon I branched out to other games like Sid Meier’s Civilization. I am currently working with Rob Cloutier, a 3d designer who worked on the game. Please visit his website www.3dhistory.com to see some of his work. He’s very talented. Civilization took the history angle to a new level. Now I was starting multiple cities and managing entire military campaigns. Beneath the framework of fun, a lot of educational building blocks came into place. You had to elevate from the stone age to the bronze age, by discovering certain aspects of science. You could only progress in your building by collecting more natural resources. Pretty tremendous all around.
Eventually you can find a way to reshape a lot of the historical landscape. I actually conquered the planet Earth with the United States. It was pretty awesome. USA! USA! USA!
Shawn Graham at Electric Archaeology has taken this to a new level. Many of these games allow for modification of your own campaigns. Shawn has added campaigns to Civilization IV and Caesar IV and began using them as teaching tools for his students. He believes that he can edit parameters of the game to help teach his students different aspects of Roman History.
“I want to use Caesar IV as a simulation to explore Roman economics. The idea is, I’ll get my students to play this scenario, and in playing it, it highlight/contrast game mechanics with the current understanding of how the Roman economy works (if you think modern economic thought is dry, you ain’t seen nuthin’ till you’ve read the ancient version… gaming economics ought to be way more fun for my students!)”
As great as it is to use Video Games to teach history, it is also fun to just ride around cause havoc. My friend Doyle just bought Red Dead Redemption. The game is Grand Theft Auto set in the Wild West. I played for about 10 minutes and was immediately hooked. Correlating with all 3d history, video games give us not only a chance to see the past, but to interact with it. Due to the lowering attention span of our youth and the increasing amount of technology in schools, I would not be surprised to see video games being used as a teaching tool 10 years from now. Educational games are already out there, let’s just bridge the gap.
All of this has gotten me wanting to play some games. I am going to dust off my copy of Age of Empires!
I just read an excellent post over at http://heritage-key.com on Malcolm Jack’s Blog. Malcolm broke down the Top Ten Places to see King Tut.
King Tut or Tutankhamun (1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled c.1333 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. King Tut was discovered in 1922 by archaeologist Howard Carter.
Recently it was discovered through DNA evidence that Tut was the son of Akhenaten and his sister/wife. Exciting and gross, but hey that’s Egypt! Certainly not as fun as Ramses II having over 100 children.
Malcolm’s List is as follows
1) KV62 (Actual Tomb: Valley of the Kings)
3) Luxor Museum
4) Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (Traveling Exhibit – NY)
5) Highclere Castle – Hampshire, UK
6) Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (Traveling Exhibit -Denver)
7) Tutankhamun Exhibition Dorchester
8 ) Hull Hands on History Museum – Hull, UK
9) Las Vegas Natural History Museum
10) King Tut Virtual on Heritage Key
There are some really excellent places on here. Unfortunately as I have previously posted about…..I have not been to Egypt and have no idea when I will be able to go there. Just as much, won’t be making it to England anytime soon. A great alternative is the traveling exhibit here in the United States. I know a few people who saw it and they loved it. It is going to be at a few new places before it is gone for good.
One cool site is the new Exhibit in Las Vegas Natural History Museum. This exhibit is utilizing EON Reality’s touchscreen technology. Here are a few clips
“EON Reality, Inc., the world’s leading interactive 3D software provider, today announced that Las Vegas Natural History Museum in Las Vegas, NV, has selected EON Reality’s burial chamber of king Tutankhamun simulation and touchscreen technology for their interactive Treasures of Egypt exhibition.
Visitors have the unique opportunity to explore the burial chamber of king Tutankhamun in a 3D 21″ touchscreen environment. The Treasures of Egypt exhibit is a permanent exhibition.
“We are thrilled to be able to show the burial chamber of king Tutankhamun in a 3D environment where the visitors can interact and walk around in real-time. This gives the visitor a much better understanding of how it actually looked like inside the king’s chamber,” said Marilyn Gillespie, Executive Director at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.”
If you want to try to see the 3d Environment from the get go, check out the recreation at Heritage Key. http://heritage-key.com/king-tut-virtual .
King Tut’s treasure trove is one of the greatest wonders our world has today. One of way or another I will see it before I die!
I have spent the past week deciding exactly what I wanted to say about the Association of Ancient Historians 2010 Conference. Ultimately I feel two different ways: impressed and disappointed.
The level of scholarship and minds in that lecture has was impressive. Professors from over 50 different Universities were represented and I meant some extremely interesting people. The topics of each session were broad, but the research papers were typically not. Many of the speakers got down to the detail on many issues I have been interested in for sometime. Garrett Fagan’s paper, “Watching the Fighters” tapped into the carnal reasons why the Romans loved watching Gladiators and how we are not so different today.
During the Warfare in the Ancient World session, William Murray and Philip de Souza both tackled new approaches to Ancient Mediterranean naval warfare. The accepted opinion for centuries has been that ancient ships were used for ship to ship combat. Both men proposed different ideas. Murray claimed that large ships were used for sieging harbors and defending trade route as set pieces. De Souza believes that the ships were mainly troop transports and supplied light infantry for raiding villages through the ship’s oarsmen.
Of course I gravitated towards many of the more palatable topics. Gladiators and Warfare are easy subjects. Although I did enjoy some of the more nuanced papers. “The Patronage of the Intellectuals in the Court of Diocletian” by Byron Nakamura explained how Diocletian, despite not being an educated emperor like Marcus Aurelius; actually employed intellectuals in his court to advise him and increase his favor in the Senate. The Session on Ancient Macedonia explained the differing opinions on comparing the Argead monarchy to either a tribal ruling power to a more traditional Dynastic lineage.
I was most impressed with everyone’s depth of knowledge and fluency in Ancient languages. I received numerous handouts in Ancient Greek and Latin. I only speak English. All the participants happily perused all of the literature and could follow along with the slides. I spent a lot of those portions checking NBA Playoff scores on my Ipod Touch. After a conversation with a Seth Bernard, a graduate student from UPenn, I found out that all true historians must know at least 2 Ancient Languages. As well, its apparently not that hard. Maybe for someone who goes to UPenn. I really came away wowed by the same people I was being taught by in College.
At times though I was truly disappointed. Multiple times I heard a presenter refer to themselves as a “Luddite.” A Luddite is defined as “One who opposes technical or technological change.” Said presenter would continue to put their head down for the next 30 minutes and read directly from their research paper. Meanwhile, the 9′x12′ screen above them remained blank and I was left staring at a dark stage and a semi-interesting lecturer. It might be easy for a scholar of Ancient History to deny the great tools that can add to an already impressive piece of research. I on the other think that it is a major waste. If I knew I was to have the paper monotonely read to me, I would have preferred to have read it myself. The most captivating presentations for me, were the ones that actually utilized Images and slides to help strengthen their paper. Provide visual aids to make the topic feel more alive. Someone had a presentation about deciphering one stone slab from a Sanctuary. Ultimately the topic was boring and sort of pointless. The catch was, I got to see the stone slab and take a stab at deciphering it myself. I did not have to take her word for it. Which is what a lot of these presenters would have liked me to have done. Powerpoint is not hard to learn, and a picture is worth a 1,000 words.
I was also disappointed that the History building I studied in was not nearly as nice as the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building at the University of Utah. I spent 4 years studying in The Francis Scott Key Building at the University of Maryland. We had one small lecture hall and a few different classrooms that were less impressive than those at my high school. My senior year the second floor got a flatscreen TV that welcomed us to the building. Francis Scott Key was the head building for the whole Arts and Humanities School. Whenever I would visit the Business Building at Maryland I was envious of all the bell’s and whistles. The Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building had two wonderful Auditoriums along with a deli/snack bar, TVs, lounge areas, and beautiful classrooms. I loved my professors in Ancient History at University of Maryland (Dr. Holum and Dr. Eckstein), but our facilities were not the best.
Ultimately this conference was a major success. I met some really interesting people and got to talk a little about my blog. Everyone seemed interested and I think there really is an audience for use of 3d in History. Even if someone is a Luddite, they still think recreating destroyed monuments and recreating cities is still pretty cool. A lot of people suggested I go back to Grad School. I do not know if I could ever have the time, intelligence, or bank account to move forward. I am not ruling it out! I still think I have a future assisting historical scholarship.
I really respect what the Association of Ancient Historians is doing. I was glad to be a part of their conference and I hope to attend again next year.
Recently my final product of Temple II at Tikal was posted at Cyark.org. As I have previously mentioned Cyark “is dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage sites through the CyArk 3D Heritage Archive, an internet archive which is the repository for heritage site data developed through laser scanning, digital modeling, and other state-of-the-art spatial technologies.” I was lucky enough to get into contact with them last year via twitter after reading an article featuring them in Archaeology magazine. You can read more about it in the About section of this site.
This was my second project for Cyark and I much more proud of this than my last attempt, Monte Alban. The main difference between the two models was that all of my textures I used for this model were from actual pictures of Temple II at Tikal. Justin Barton and the team at Cyark has been extremely patient and let me work at my own pace.
My work flow begins with utilizing the cloud point diagrams found on Cyark’s website. Cyark gave me access to a user account where I was able to take individual measurements of all aspects of the model. The models I am working with only hold a fraction of the million cloud points taken by Cyark’s 3d scanners. 
The process is always very slow at first. After working in Sketchup and being completely used to the work flow, going back and forth between this unfamiliar 3d viewing program was a little difficult. Thanks to the MONTHS it took me to do Monte Alban, I have gotten the hang of it.
Throughout the process of measuring the features of the model, I began creating the model. Google Sketchup has my been my most used program on my computer for the last 3 years. For a free program it does some amazing things. I never had a background in CAD or 3d modeling and learning this on my own was not intimidating at all. Unlike learning 3ds Max, which I am doing right now.
Once I was finished with the base model of Temple II, I began texturing it. I took pictures of Temple II from Cyark’s website and began to slowly crop parts of the temple and resize them to fit their individual parts. This is one of my favorite parts of the modeling procress. This is where the model really begins to come alive.
After the texturing process I was able to convert the it into a .3ds file to send off to Cyark so they could add it in the 3d Viewer. Please go check it out here. I am not really sure what project they are going to have me do next. I think I might jump ahead and start to work on the Temple of Jupiter at Pompeii. Cyark is slowly filling out its ranks with new and exciting things. I hope to have a full feature on them with an few interviews as well.
Over at Heritage Key there is a little contest going on revolving around the new concept of repatriation of the Rosetta Stone. Everyone is supposed to post on it and the winner gets some books. A little background on the Rosetta Stone from Heritage Key’s Website
This Ptolemaic era Egyptian stele – created in 196 BC and discovered by the French in 1799 at Rosetta in Egypt – was instrumental in the deciphering of hieroglyphic writing in 1822 by the British scientist Thomas Young and the French scholar Jean-François Champollion. Since 1802 it’s been on display at the British Museum in London, which was granted possession of the artefact after it was captured by the British Army in 1801.
So here’s my take.
Current request have been made by Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquitie to have the Rosetta Stone returned to Egypt. Egypt is opening a brand new museum to house all of their artifacts as we speak. The GEM, or Grand Egyptian Museum will be home to Tutankhamun and many more artifacts more important to Egypt’s history than the Rosetta Stone.
I feel that the Rosetta stone is more important to the rest of the world’s understanding of Egyptian History than to Egypt’s. Containing Hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Classical Greek this item was the key to the rest of the world understanding these languages. This was a project completed by non Egyptians. If anything Egyptians should be ashamed that a lot of their place in history is due to the work of foreigners. What make this even more comical is that this stone dates back to when Egypt was being run by a foreign dynasty, the Ptolemys. Everyone likes to forget that Cleopatra is a Greek name.
Dr. Hawass has been quoted,”"If the British want to be remembered, if they want to restore their reputation, they should volunteer to return the Rosetta Stone because it is the icon of our Egyptian identity.” This whole concept is hilarious. I think that the ICON of your Egyptian history are those three big buildings sitting outside of Cairo.
With the Rosetta stone being in England it gives the rest of the world a much better opportunity to see it every year. Many more tourists frequent the British Museum than the Egyptian Museum (very imaginative names). You can preserve your Egyptian history having your items outside of your own borders. Unfortunately for Egypt, their country has been under foreign domination and pressure since they lost power to Julius Caesar. They have no great pieces of history to show off.
If I was Dr. Hawass I would be more worried about all the Mummies and Sarcophogi that are littered around museums in the United States and Europe. THERE IS AN ENTIRE TEMPLE INSIDE THE MET. That is what makes me crazy. I was in the Met and turned a corner and there was an entire Egyptian temple. It is just sitting there.
Yes this piece of history is very important. I find it hard to believe that we never would have figured out those hieroglyphics without it. The British museum has be holding this item for over 200 years and has preserved it’s history just as well as anyone. Maybe if they asked for it back sometime in the first 150 years. Then maybe they might have a shot.
This item is a historical icon for EUROPEAN accomplishment in deciphering a language that it’s own country was not even able to do. Egypt should be thanking the countries that allowed Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion to bring new light on their own history.
Dr. Hawass already has plenty of things to fill up his shiny new museum and this granodiorite slab is not going “bring the room together.” Focus on items from when your nation was one of the greatest in the world, not one that sheds lights on all of it’s shortcomings since then
http://heritage-key.com/blogs/malcolmj/ancient-world-london-bloggers-challenge-3-should-british-museum-return-rosetta-stone-
I just finished reading “Alexander the Great Murder in Babylon” by Graham Phillips. This book is centered on the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. Whereas most biographies are set in chronological order; this examination is based on this singular event and then slowly fills in the history backwards.
Graham Phillips on his own website, www.grahamphillips.com, fashions himself as “a historical detective, a modern-day adventurer and a real-life Indiana Jones.” Phillips books usually revolve around bringing to light controversial topics like Robin Hood, the Knights Templar, and the Garden of Eden. In this book Phillips takes the approach of a police detective and crime scene investigator in attempting to indentify key suspects and narrow down their motives.
To be honest I was very suspect of this book. I bought it about two years ago and it had been sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust. Phillips does not have a university background and from what I had seen was not really peer reviewed in any way possible. Sometimes I can be a snob about my writer’s credentials so I let this one sit around. I recently finished a book on Roman history and thought I should read a Greek one. Low on funds I went back to my own library.
From the very beginning of reading I was actually very surprised. Using a lot of logic and continuing siting contemporary sources Phillips presented a very believable theory. Narrowing his suspect list down to 8 suspects based upon motive and ability he slowly whittled them away until he unveiled the murderer in the final chapter. His discoveries were done in a great chronological order of discovery and how each person presented themselves in Alexander’s life.
Phillips frequently quoted Plutarch, Justinus, Diodorus, and Arrian as well as many others. He included plenty of those historians words in his own account to help strengthen his own opinions. Phillips skillfully gave endnotes for all of his uses and puts them all at the end of his book. Many books along these lines provide no sources for their information and it appears Phillips wants to have his book to be more scholarship than beach reading.
Do I agree with his final verdict? Maybe. He determines very early in the book that Alexander died of poison and not that of natural causes. By going through his symptoms given from numerous writers he did a very nice job convincing me. When it comes down to the end of the book to show who really was his murderer I was much more skeptic. I am not going to reveal who he said, you should read the book for that.
Down the stretch I found myself doing a little more skimming than full reading. Regardless this was a very interesting read and for anyone interested in Alexander the Great I certainly believe this is worth your time.
I stumbled upon this great video by the artist Ancientvine. www.ancientvine.com at a post over at The Ancient World in London. This video was brought to light in reference to a project in England to light up the wall’s complete length, all 84 miles of it! This video is supposed to be a recreation of what Hadrian’s Wall and the fort Pons Aelius would have looked like in 200AD.
The Roman Presence in England is an often forgotten part of the overall Roman history. There are many exciting stories including many revolts. The most interesting would certainly be the one led by the warrior queen Boudicca.
For most lay people out there a nice way to get a fun glimpse of what this period might have been like should check out the movie “King Arthur”. I know that it really isn’t historically accurate but when it comes to historical epics how often does that matter? The movie was directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and stars Clive Owen and Keira Knightley. I was more excited by the roles played by Ray Winstone and Ray Stephenson. Ray Stephenson is also known to me as Titus Puolo, the badass soldier from the show Rome.
At this point I am now rambling. Great job by Ancientvine and I am certainly going to explore some more of his work
Excellent post over at Associate Degree. I stumbled onto this post randomly looking around the interwebs. For those who are really interested in finding some online resources look no further than this post. It breaks down about 5-7 sites for each of the main Ancient civilizations. Some of my favorites are the Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors, the Theban Mapping Project, and an Interactive site on the MesoAmerican Ballegame.
Very soon in the resource section of this website there are going to be links to a bunch of sites similar to this. I hope to have it more 3d-centric, but it never hurts to have your information correct.
From April 15-17 I will be attending the Association of Ancient Historians 2010 Annual Meeting being held in Salt Lake City, Utah at the University of Utah.
There will be eight paper sessions: Ancient Sport and Spectacle, Alexander the Great, Warfare in the Ancient World, Open Session on Near East and Greece, Roman Politics and Law, Ancient Macedonia, and two Open Sessions on Rome. For a bigger rundown of the actual papers being presented and the presenters go to the AAH website.
I missed the conference last year due to the fact it was all the way up in Vancouver. My uncle lives in Park City so I hope to kill two birds with one stone and hopefully convince him to join me.
For someone as interested in Ancient History as I am this is going to be an awesome two days. Expect a lot of updates as I will attempt my first foray into live blogging. For those unable to attend I will give some looks inside what looks to be a great conference.
Dr. Shawn Graham from the University of Manitoba was kind of enough to feature me as a guest blogger over at his website Electric Archaeology. I wrote about my experience getting into the world of 3d History and my personal background. Most of the post is gleaned from my About Me Section. Hopefully I can post again over on his site as I develop more original content. Tikal Temple II is shortly around the corner
Shawn Graham is a Registered Professional Archaeologist in North America, and was a Member of the Institute for Archaeologists (formerly, Institute of Field Archaeologists) in the UK from 2004-2009. Check him out at http://electricarchaeologist.wordpress.com
His site feature a lot of his personal research. One of my favorite things is that he uses modifications of computer games to teach his classes. Pretty wild.
Check out my post in his feature “New Talent Tuesdays”
