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CGI

Reconstructing Portus – Rome’s Lost Empire

Why produce computer models? We have been producing computer graphic representations as part of our work at Portus since 2007. These are used for a number of purposes. Firstly, they help us to bring together all the many forms of digital data gathered on site, through survey, geophysics, photogrammetry, laser scanning and other tools. For example, we are combining three-dimensional geophysics with laser scans and excavated sections to understand the development of the Building 5. Continue reading →

CGI research at Portus

The AHRC Portus Project is partly focussed on the application and evaluation of digital technologies, and in particular the production of computer graphic models. Specifically we implement Computer Graphic Imagery following geophysical assessment, during the excavation, in the analysis of excavated and surveyed archaeology, and in the representation and debate of interpretations. Continue reading →

Visualising Portus

At a site as large and complex as Portus, it is often hard to work out the building phases of individual structures, or get a feel for the original landscape. The AHRC portus Project is therefore employing a range of visualisation tools to interpret and present the site as it is now and as we believe it was in the past. Computer graphics make the site easier to understand by presenting archaeological findings in an easily comprehensible, but historically accurate format. Continue reading →

Cistern simulation

Our reconstruction work on a cistern located on the northern side of the excavation demonstrates our working process. This building had received several phases of archaeological intervention in the past and was subsequently sampled and surveyed by the Portus Project team. In addition dendrochronological data was gathered. A series of computer graphic models were produced as the recording and interpretation of the building has continued. Continue reading →

Reconstruction Methodology part four – Portscape

B. Colour Scheme Excavations beneath the Basilica Portuense by the Soprintendenza di Beni Archeologici di Ostia (Dottssa Lidia Paroli) revealed a sequence of buildings going back to the mid 1st century AD. The outer faces of these brick-faced buildings were covered with reddish, orangeish and yellowish plaster. On this basis it has been assumed that, apart from the temple complex, most buildings would have been decorated in one colour or another. Continue reading →

Reconstruction Methodology

The computer models of Portus produced prior to the start of the AHRC Portus Project were based upon the interpretation of standing structural remains uncovered by successive archaeologists, particularly Lanciani (1868), Lugli (Lugli & Filibeck 1935) and Testaguzza (1970) as well as more recent topographic work undertaken by the Soprintendenza di Beni Archeologici di Ostia, and most the survey work undertaken by the Universities of Southampton and Cambridge in association with the British... Continue reading →