A Puzzle in 4D - Tell el-Daba
In the A Puzzle in 4D project (2015–2020) the archaeological resources of the Austrian excavation project at Tell el-Daba (Avaris) in Egypt held at the archive of the Institute for Oriental and European Archaeology (OREA), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) were prepared for digital long-term archiving and advanced spatio-temporal analysis and reconstruction. Parts of the Tell el-Daba documentation archive are available open access online for researchers and the interested public. The project was carried out in collaboration with the ÖAW Austrian Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage (ACDH-CH, where it was a case study for the development of the ÖAW data repository ARCHE) and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro, the development of an Archaeological Information System for 4D archaeological analysis).
On these webpages you can explore the Tell el-Daba documentation archive and in the creation of the digital archive section you will find workflows for digitization of analogue resources, for preparation of digital resources for digital archiving and for metadata creation; you will find a description of the technology stack and of the organization of the Tell el-Daba documentation archive in the repository ARCHE.
Download templates for future projects are here.
In an online GIS project you can analyse TD area F/I square j21. Visit 3D models of reconstructions of tombs and a cellar from the same square and investigate the palace of area F/I in the phase model and walkthrough (be patient, both take time to load) or look at a movie about the reconstructed palace. For a comprehensive introduction to the excavations at Tell el-Daba and the A Puzzle in 4D project take the interactive guided tour through the A Puzzle in 4D story map.
Archaeological Site
Tell el Daba is an archaeological site situated in the eastern Nile delta regions of Egypt revealing archaeological evidence from the 12th to 18th dynasties (early second millennium BC). Excavations have revealed a wealthy society with contacts to many parts of the eastern Mediterranean.
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We have developed a data model based on the CIDOC CRM ontology and extensions that represents the excavated physical reality, the excavation activity, the documentation and the digitisation of the documentation.
Explore MoreTell el-Daba 4D
The archaeological evidence of one part of the excavations (area F/I square j-21) has been reconstructed. A 4D archaeological information system has been developed to analyse the evidence.
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