The Book of the Dead in 3D aims at creating a database of 3D annotated models of decorated ancient Egyptian coffins. It shows how image-based 3D modeling software can help the visualization of ancient inscriptions in their own physical context and the way Egyptologists approach and record ancient Egyptian funerary texts.
As an archaeologist with field experience in Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Cyprus, Tunisia and the U.S. and academic training in Egyptology, Syro-Palestinian Archaeology, Anthropology and Religious and Biblical Studies, I have strongly cross-cultural and interdisciplinary research interests. My current work focuses on fieldwork in Egypt, ancient Egyptian urbanism, cultural heritage destruction, and ancient ceramics.
Rita Lucarelli studied at the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” Italy, where she received her MA degree in Classical Languages and Egyptology. She holds her Ph.D. from Leiden University, the Netherlands (2005). Her Ph.D. thesis was published in 2006 as The Book of the Dead of Gatseshen: Ancient Egyptian Funerary Religion in the 10th Century BC. From 2005 to 2010, Lucarelli held a part-time position as a Lecturer of Egyptology at the University of Verona, Italy. From 2009 to 2012, she worked as a Research Scholar on the Book of the Dead Project at the University of Bonn, Germany.
During this year (AY 2017-2018), we have continued to build 3D visualizations of ancient Egyptian coffins and to progress in disseminating 3D models of previously unpublished ancient Egyptian coffins kept in the storage rooms of the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology (PAHMA) at UC Berkeley. We are also continuing the textual and iconographic analysis of the 3D models by creating interactive annotations on the models themselves.
