Ebla 3D project documenting and 3D reconstructing a vanishing site

Abstract

A multidisciplinary workshop to propose a full 3D model comprehending all the aspects of the ancient environment of Syrian site of Ebla. Thanks to new technologies should give the opportunity to reconstruct, navigate and discover the whole panorama of the ancient town. IndexTerms-3D reconstruction, archaeological documentation, virtual site, interactivity, immersivity. I. THE PROJECTThe project here presented starts from a multidisciplinary workshop conducted by Archeo&Arte3D Lab -DigiLab Sapienza University of Rome and MAIS (Missione Archeologica Italiana in Siria) started in 2014. The main goal of the project is to propose a full 3D model encompassing all the aspects of the ancient enviromnent, as well as the town planning and the 3D reconstruction of ancient buildings. Thanks to digital technologies, we are now able to offer to both scientific and public audience a new kind of archaelogical approach. The interaction between the user and 3D systemalso through immersivity -on one hand involves to wider reflections on several archaeological topics (eg. structural aspects of the walls, building techniques, geomorphology, archaeobotanical and zoo-archaeological aspects of the site); on the other hand the same interaction allows a deeper fruition of the data to the public audience, meeting its curiosity and emotions. As a main result of the first phase of the workshop a preliminary 3D model of the Early Bronze IVA phase of Tell Mardikh/Ebla, known as the Age of the Royal Archives (Mardikh IIBI, 2450-2300 BC), has been developed. Special attention was paid to the 3D model of the Royal Palace G, and in particular to the latest rebuilding activity of the palace, dating to the reign of the last king of Ebla, Ishar Damu [1][2] [3]. The choice of the period depended on its peculiar documentation: on the one end, the textual sources give detailed information concerning the economic and political system of the Eblaite State, on the other end, the new project 978-1-5090-0048-7/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE carried out by the MAIS is returning a huge quantity of new data relating to the EB IV A proper. The project is trying to implement the analysis of the landscape around Ebla, taking into account social and economic aspects of the Eblaite State inferred by cuneiform texts from the EB IV A Royal Archives [2]. A multidisciplinary approach is allowing a capillary survey inside the ecosystem and, the political organization of the Eblaite state during the age of the Archives, in the second half of the 3rd Millennium B.C. Figure I: 3 D panorama of Ebla II. LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS AND PALEOENVIRONMENTEbla is located about 55 km southwest of Aleppo in a semi arid area with 400 mm/y and an average temperature of 17°C . The site dominate a wide territory where two main settlements are situated: Tell Afis and Tell Touqan. Together they covere a surface of 26 ha . The first, Tell Afis, is located 11 km northwest of Ebla, and the second, tell Touqan is situated 14 km from Ebla. Near this village there was a lake, today disappeared. In this area it is...