Building Virtual Environment for Safeguarding Archeological Ruins Case Study—El-Sheikh Ibada (Antinoopolis)

Abstract

Many archaeological sites around the world have suffered over the years from serious issues such as natural disasters, looting, expanding of cities, farming, and deficiency of interest that contributed to the loss of their features. This paper looks at safeguarding these sites through interpreting their archaeological ruins. Recently, modern technology has been able to greatly help with this issue, as it can provide a detailed visual representation of the cultural heritage site in order to build a virtual environment that simulates the real world. A virtual environment can be produced by using digital documentation techniques and immersive reality applications, which can work effectively to produce a model of the missing archeological objects through integrating a detailed historical and archaeological information with an accurate metrical survey (photographs, site plans). Thus, this information can support the building of the virtual environment to visualize the lost world and interpret the cultural heritage site. Such techniques can be similarly adopted in other areas such as animation, movies and video games to promote these archaeological sites. It is therefore essential to connect our cultural heritage with such modern technology to ensure adequate technical support, particularly when dealing with archeological ruins. Moreover, providing means for simulation and interpretation can help in safeguarding these sites with its valuable resources and prevent them from neglecting. The methodology of this research starts with identifying the concepts of safeguarding cultural heritage. Then, after determining what technical requirements are involved in the field of cultural heritage, the paper identifies the most appropriate technology to the case study that can help in achieving the various purposes, such as the reconstruction of the non-existed objects, enhancing exhibition, and learning purposes. The paper concludes by proposing guidelines for producing a rich virtual environment that enables the interpretation and promotion of the case study El-Sheikh Ibada (Antinoopolis) archaeological site as well as similar cases.