Digital Recreation of Roman Leicester

[JGolomb]

Virtual Roman Leicester: A Digital Recreation of 'Ratae Corieltauvorum' 210AD

 

Pretty cool technological advances make for niiiiice eye candy. Link above includes a video of the digital recreation.

 

Using a skill known as architectural forensics, and working with archaeologists from the University of Leicester, Dr Douglas Cawthorne and Researcher Assistant George Watson have brought to 3D life, buildings known to have existed in the city, the first tage of the 'Virtual Roman Leicester' project.

 

Dr Cawthorne said: "This project seeks to digitally recreate Roman Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum). The first stage, currently underway, is creating highly accurate digital models of the known buildings and artefacts."

 

He adds: "This will lead on to populating the town with virtual 'Romans'. These characters will be programmed with all the social, cultural and environmental factors that would have influenced the lives of the actual people of the period (roughly 1st to 4th centuries AD). A game-like element will give users the opportunity to enter virtual Roman Leicester to observe, trade and interact."

 

Virtual Roman Leicester is not only a user interactive exploratory environment but also demonstrates the recreation of long vanished buildings from very minimal archaeological evidence using a technique Dr Cawthorne has described as 'Architectural Forensics'. The technique has suggested new interpretations of the means of construction, the history and use of the Roman buildings and has also indicated potential areas for further investigation.