The MRP team learns about Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic settlement excavation site for archeologists, and how the Çatalhöyük research project pioneered many of the standard practices of 3D archeology. 3D archeology includes digitizing artifacts, rooms, and even entire excavation sites to build extensive databases for future research.
The 3D Çatalhöyük Conference takes place at VMASC, the Virginia Modeling Analysis and Simulation Center, and different researchers share their 3D graphics and visualizations of the archaeological site. 3D modeling allows these researchers to rebuild archeological sites and record pertinent data.
The MRP team experiments with different 3D technologies and learns more about what 3D modeling has to offer. The MRP team members and consulting archaeologists enter “The Cave,” a wraparound simulation space projecting a digitized representation of Çatalhöyük, and work alongside the archaeologists to better understand how simulation and modeling informs the field of archeology. The researchers reflect on how simulation has expanded the world of archeology and made the history of Çatalhöyük more accessible.
