Palmyra is rapidly becoming the symbol of Isis’s cultural iconoclasm.
If Isis is permitted to wipe the slate clean and rewrite the history of a region that defined global aesthetic and political sensibilities, we will collectively suffer a costly and irreversible defeat.
But there is hope. By placing the record of our past in the digital realm, it will lie for ever beyond the reach of vandals and terrorists.
– ROGER MICHEL, IDA DIRECTOR
Scientists launch hi-tech plan to save ancient Middle East relics from Islamic State
In collaboration with UNESCO World Heritage and the epigraphical database project at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World and engineering specialists at Oxford University, we hope to capture one million 3D images of at-risk objects by the end of 2016. To that end, we have created a heavily modified version of an inexpensive consumer 3D camera that will permit inexperienced users to capture archival-quality scans. The camera has the facility to upload these images automatically to database servers where they can be used for study or, if required, 3D replication. It is our intention to deploy up to five-thousand of these low-cost 3D cameras in conflict zones throughout the world by the end of 2015.
The Million Image Database Project – Institute of Digital Archaeology
More on Digital Archeology: Indiana Joneses run hi-tech race against Islamic State – BBC
[Image is a LIDAR scan of Angkor Wat, Cambodia, via Discover Magazine]
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