Jennifer Harris and Dr. Cynthia Finlayson, Anthropology
Last year I set out on an adventure to research an ancient civilization, to gather photographic and textual research halfway across the globe. I traveled to Greece in order to research the ancient Minoans, a very advanced and interesting people who had a great influence on Greek culture.
I am an animation student with some background in Art History, and this project was a fusion of my passion for past and present. There is a Minoan palace called Knossos on the Greek island of Crete, a palace famous in myth as the site where Theseus battled the mighty Minotaur in the Labyrinths beneath the palace. I am recreating one of the rooms of this palace in 3D as it once stood in its glory days, namely the Queen’s Megaron.
The goal of this is to provide insight into a lost civilization through interactive imagery and reconstruction. It will allow students to see a photrealistic representation of an ancient Greek civilization, providing a unique learning tool for students. My project comes in two phases: 1) Research and Experience, and 2) Execution. This last year I completed the first phase of my research by traveling to Greece and gathering an extensive amount of photographic and textual research so that I could come back to BYU and start the recreation process.
Although the final goal of this project hasn’t changed since the beginning, some of it is intended use has changed. Originally, it was going to be used in a podclass for Art History, but when Dr. Finlayson moved over to the Anthropology department, we were no longer associated with that project. I am still using it as my Senior Animation project, which will take place winter semester 2009.
Regardless of the change in how this project was to be used, my fellow adventurers and I still traveled to Greece to perform our research (although on different projects). Our first stop was Athens, where many I important artifacts resided. There were many museums that contained all sorts of treasures that were relevant to my research, and I was able to gather a sufficient amount of both visual and textural data. Some of these museums included the Cycladic Museum, the National Archaeology Museum, and ancient sites like the Acropolis and the Agora.
Our journey next took us on a ferry to Santorini, the island fabled to once have been the lost city of Atlantis. There are ruins there that rival those of Pompeii in terms of volcanic preservation, but to our dismay, the ruins were closed. Fortunately, however, there was a museum open that contained many of the important pieces of artwork we were looking for. The styles of painting and pottery on Santorini were very similar to that of the Minoans on Crete, and provided excellent reference for my research. I was able to look very closely at how their art was painted, what colors they used, the actual material they painted on, etc. It was so helpful to see these masterpieces in real life, because small pictures on the internet can only tell you so much about the surface properties of an object and very little detail.
After our excursion to Santorini, we finally sailed to Crete itself, anchoring in the port of Heraklion, not far from the ruins of Knossos. We visited the Archaeological museum first, and saw many of the original wall paintings and artifacts found in Knossos, some of which even came from the very room I was studying! I was able to get very close and detailed pictures of all of these artifacts that will greatly aide me in recreating it this upcoming semester.
Naturally, the next step in my journey was to Knossos itself to see the ruins and understand the scale and layout of the Queen’s Megaron. I had a slight (or maybe not so slight) panic attack when I couldn’t find the room easily, and when I asked a guard about it she told me that all the rooms below ground (mine included) were closed off and no one was allowed to actually go down there. Did I really just travel halfway across the world to hear this? I explained to her my situation and asked if there was any way that I could get permission to go down there and complete my research.
She told me that the only way to obtain a pass was to go to the Ministry of Archaeology and talk to the director. We were to leave Heraklion the next day, but we had to postpone all further plans. Early next morning when the Ministry opened, a companion and I went to inquire about a pass. After some confused communication where some language barriers obstructed understanding, we finally found the man we were looking for.
I spoke to the Director of the Effery and again explained my situation, and asked for permission to explore the ruins for my research. He was amazingly kind, and readily granted his consent. It had to go through a committee review and an official document had to be drawn up before I could go, so we had to wait. He was so kind that he put it through the acceptance process right away, and I had the required document within the hour.
The only catch was that I had to share the results of my research with the Ministry of Archaeology when the project was finished, so now I am working to finish it for the Ministry as well as for by Senior Animation BFA project.
I was able to go back to Knossos, and the same guard I had talked to the day before took me down below ground into the actual ruins of the palace and gave me free reign of the interior to conduct my research. I was able to get an accurate layout of the room, a 360 turnaround, and many textural and architectural data. The guard told me that no one had been down there in years, and it was very rare for the Ministry to grant access to it, let alone so fast. I was truly blest to have this opportunity and to get my much needed research.
The research has now been completed, and next semester I will actually begin to rebuild the Queen’s Megaron in virtual space, using the knowledge and research I have obtained this summer. This second phase of my project will be completed in April.