Date: Saturday, May 14, 2011, 1:30pm

Presenters: Anne Austin and Bethany Simpson, UCLA, and Emily Cole, UCLA

Chapter: Orange County, California

Location: Bowers Museum, Norma Kershaw Auditorium, 2002 N. Main, Santa Ana, California

This lecture is free and open to the public.

Description: "Bricks, and Buildings: The Advantages and Applications of Three-Dimensional Laser Scanning in Egyptian Archaeology"

Anne Austin and Bethany Simpson, UCLA

This lecture focuses on the latest research utilizing three-dimensional laser scanning for archaeological inquiries. This new technology debuted with a scanning project conducted in 2010 by UCLA and the University of Arkansas at the Karanis site in the Fayum.

Karanis is an ancient city first built by the Ptolemies in the 3rd century BC. The remains of the city shed light on the life of Egyptians during the heyday of the city, with broken walls, alleys and streets indicating the city's glorious past.

The three-dimensional laser scanning project created a spatially detailed model of architecture visible on the surface in previously excavated areas of Karanis. It was found to be advantageous over traditional field methods for both its efficient, accurate, fast and thorough recording. It will be useful in online publications of the data by making the site of Karanis accessible to a greater audience. The technology has the potential for new kinds of spatial analysis, including volumetric and surface area estimates, which previously had to be measured tediously on foot.

Come see a live demonstration of this incredibly rich three-dimensional data set, as well as a thorough discussion entailing additional applications of three-dimensional laser scanning for bones and artifacts.

"Recent Excavations at Karanis: Storing Agricultural Yield and Stacking Archaeological Information"

Emily Cole of UCLA

Emily Cole just returned from presenting this paper at a conference in Germany. Since 2003, the UCLA-RUG-UOA Fayum Project has used landscape archaeology to understand how humans interacted with their environment in ancient times. The team was in the field through December 2010, one of the few teams to get in a complete season in Egypt this winter.

This talk presents a few of the team's ongoing projects, provides an update on recent excavations and shows what lies in store for future exploration at the site.