A apologize for cross-postings
Dear Colleagues, the book "Virtual Reality in Archaeology" is already
published.
Publication data are as follows:

VIRTUAL REALITY IN ARCHAEOLOGY
Edited by J.A. Barcelo, M. Forte and D.H.Sanders
Oxford, ArcheoPress (BAR International Series S 843)
ISBN 1841710474

For obtaining the book, please contact the publisher at
www.archaeopress.demon.co.uk
In a few days, the book should also be at amazon.co.uk.
If you are a contributing author, you will receive a free copy of the
book. Please,
contact me about how you want to receive the book and your mailing
address.
Members of Computer Applications in Archaeology, can buy the book at a
special
price. Please, contact Hans Kammermans at Leiden University
([log in to unmask]).

I'm including here a short file with information about the book. For a
more general
presentation, please, look at www.learningsites.com.

The book also contains a CD-ROM with additional material, animated
videos and
interactive models.

For any other information about the book, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Juan A. Barcelo
Quantitative Archaeology Lab
Divisio de Prehistoria
Facultat de Lletres. Edifici B
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
08193 Bellaterra
Spain

[log in to unmask]




ISBN: 1841710474
TITLE: Virtual Reality in Archaeology
AUTHOR: BARCELO, Juan A., FORTE, Maurizio, SANDERS, Donald H. (eds)
DESCRIPTION: In this volume, you can read (and see in the accompanying CD-ROM) many different applications. From reconstructions of Megalithic monuments to Medieval churches, from Egyptian musical instruments, to roman pottery. In all cases, archaeological data have been translated into images by means of 3D solid modelling. Images help understanding the complexities of archaeological concepts in many different ways. The concept virtual archaeology  was first proposed by Paul Reilly (1990) to refer to the use of 3D computer models of ancient buildings and artefacts. The key concept is virtual, an allusion to a model, a replica, the notion that something can act as a surrogate or replacement for an original. Virtual-Reality is being used  as a generic word to refer to the growing range of dynamic-interactive visualisation. Virtual Reality techniques in archaeology  -reconstructions, 3D graphics, immersive imaging- promise an accessible, highly visual, and interactive representation means of difficult-to-see data., opening up new ways of presenting research. Virtual Reality models allow us to put all of our contemporary knowledge and thought about an object into a user-interactive presentation. Such models are important because, above and beyond its strong popular impact, computer reconstruction allows the presentation of complex information in a visual way that enables it to be used to test and refine the image or model that has been created. In this book, many archaeological virtual models are explained from data acquisition to model building and user interaction. Some of them are intended for use in exploration and analysis in which the user has some ideas about what they are looking for, but is not fully sure. Other computer representations are  prepared for presentations intended to communicate one's findings to others. The key difference here is between the need to understand the data better, versus the user's desire to communicate some particular understanding that has already been reached. This book has been edited with the intention to build virtual worlds that are much more than sets of fancy pictures. Archaeologists and visualisation designers must determine what phenomena need to be "visualised", and the form of the representation, so that the defined communication objectives will be achieved. Most of applications presented in this volume are examples of  phenomena visualisations and phenomena change visualisation. Archaeologists are asking computer scientists to build dynamic models of archaeological phenomena. There is also a lot of motivational visualisation procedures, but very few causal reasoning. Archaeological computer visualisation may be more than pretty images, but it is not yet a surrogate for reasoning.  This book  offers a complete overview of Virtual Reality techniques in Archaeology, and it is divided into several parts: introductory papers, technical papers and archaeological applications. A CD-ROM is included with a html version of all papers with full colour pictures, more than 20 minutes of video animations, and a number of interactive virtual models (VRML, Superscape). All files may be read using a standard borwser like Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher or Netscape Navigator 4.0 or higher

TOC: The diversity of archaeological virtual worlds
Visualizing what might be: an introduction to virtual reality techniques in archaeology
Archaeological publications using virtual reality: case studies and caveats
Realism vs. Reality: creating virtual reconstructions of prehistoric architecture  
Native american virtual reality archaeology:  an architect's perspective 
Plans, elevations and virtual worlds: the development of techniques for the routine construction of hyperreal simulations 
Acquisition of detailed models for virtual reality  
3d facial reconstruction and visualization of ancient egyptian mummies using spiral ct data soft tissue reconstruction and texture application 
Visualisation of virtual environments of ancient architecture: the problem of illumination
Ray-tracing techniques in a parallel environment: the case study of a horse grave
Pre-rendering acoustics and illumination for archaeological reconstructions
Computer simulation of stonehenge  
Virtual reality at the neolithic monument complex of thornborough, north yorkshire 
Form and fabric, the real and the virtual: roman economy-related geometrical mass constraints in dressel's table of amphora forms
An interactive system for the presentation of a virtual egyptian flute in a real museum 
Immersive walk-through experience of japanese ancient villages with the vista-walk system 
A www virtual museum for improving the knowledge of the history of a city
The internet and virtual environments in heritage education: more than just a technical problem 
Virtual reality and ancient rome: the ucla cultural vr lab's santa maria maggiore project  
Immersive imaging technologies for archaeological research
Travel to the time of the iberians
The baths of baetulo: from archaeological to virtual reality
The use of digital photogrammetry and geometric modelling in medieval archaeology  
3d visualizations of a first-century galilean town 
Computer-aided design and archaeology at sagalassos: methodology and possibilities of reconstructions of archaeological sites 
Virtual model of the basilica of emmaus-nicopolis 
Medieval turku: the lost city. A project trying to reconstruct a medieval town in finland
Virtual reality as an extension of the archaeological record: reconstruction of the iron age fortress els vilars (arbeca, catalonia, spain) 
Reconstruction of the intendant's second palace, quebec city, around 1730
The estense castle of ferrara (italy): multimedia project and virtual reconstruction 
About virtual archaeology: disorders, cognitive interactions and virtuality

END