"EarthWorks" Adds to UC s String of Successes

The Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites (

CERHAS

) at the University of Cincinnati was founded in 1995 in the university’s

top-ranked

College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP). The aim of the center has always been simple: harness technology to restore what’s been lost – inaccessible cultural resource, sites or landscapes.

Previous projects from the CERHAS labs have included

LASCAUX
This virtual reality recreation of France’s Cave of Lascaux, where prehistoric man created paintings and carvings, was a means to “walk” the site which has been closed to the public for decades. The LASCAUX project, headed by Benjamin Britton, associate professor of art, was featured around the world, in such press outlets as the Los Angeles Times, CNN, BBC Television, Reuter’s, Discover magazine, Scientific American and a many European national dailies and magazines.

THE DIRT ON MIDEA

UC archaeologists excavated the Bronze Age Greek citadel of Midea, and then, CERHAS rebuilt it electronically on its site overlooking the fertile Argive Plain. The CERHAS

interactive project

recreated the site, its architecture, principal finds from the excavations and offered information about the way of life by the citadel’s ancient inhabitants. The award-winning CD-ROM was created in collaboration with the

DAAP senior class

of 2001.

TROY
UC archaeologists first excavated at the fabled city of Troy in the 1930s, and their work at the site continues, as does ongoing CERHAS efforts to recreate the Bronze Age palaces, temples, plazas and fortifications that once comprised the city’s many layers. The project to electronically rebuild Troy began in 1992. With substantial funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, it’s hoped that the electronically rebuilt city will be launched on line in April 2007.

THE POPE HOUSE
An animated, computer-model restoration and tour of the Benjamin Latrobe-design home in Lexington, Ky. The project was led by Patrick Snadon, associate professor of interior design.

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