The research and educational project, Modeling the Past, aims to create virtual 3-D walkthroughs of buildings found in the Princeton University excavations at Polis Chrysochous, Cyprus. Going beyond static models, the challenge is to find appropriate visual metaphors for conveying uncertainty and change that are understandable by the public and useful for scholars. The four structures modeled so far date from the Cypro-Archaic period beginning in the 7th century BCE to the Late Antique period of the 7th century CE. The impetus for the project was a special exhibition about the excavations. Work completed so far is the result of a joint Computer Science and Art and Archaeology seminar in the spring of 2012. Students created digital reconstructions, which included 3-D scans of objects, for a computer-animated movie displayed at the exhibition. Long-term goals are to complement the permanent exhibition of objects in Cyprus and to create interactive web applications.

@article{Smith:2013:MTP,
   author = "Joanna S. Smith and Szymon Rusinkiewicz",
   title = "Modeling the Past for Scholars and the Public",
   journal = "International Journal of Heritage in the Digital Era",
   year = "2013",
   month = mar,
   volume = "2",
   number = "1",
   pages = "167--194"
}