Virtually Rebuilding Çatalhöyük History Houses

Summary

3D technologies, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and virtual reality have changed the documentation and interpretation process of Çatalhöyük (Berggren et al. forthcoming 2015). Work at Çatalhöyük Building 89 has allowed a new methodology of data capture, processing, visualization, and analysis of stratigraphic layers based on digital technologies (Forte et al. 2012). On the other hand, virtual reconstruction of Neolithic buildings rebuilt in the same place has been little discussed. Current visualization technologies allow us to simulate the tridimensional context, shared material culture, and experiential aspects of the unique urban environment at Çatalhöyük, but require archaeologists to address methodological questions such as: what is the significance of virtually rebuilding Çatalhöyük history houses? Can a scientific simulation of Neolithic buildings tell us more about the social and religious meanings of built space at Çatalhöyük? How can uncertainty, ambiguity, and different interpretations be conveyed in a tridimensional simulation? My contribution to the digital reconstruction of history houses aims to define a new approach to digital archaeology that integrates a plurality of data in a visual-analytical environment where advanced interactive techniques simulate the cosmology, shared space, material culture, and experiential aspects of Çatalhöyük cultural landscapes.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Religion, history and place in the origins of settled life in the Middle East.

Keywords

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