3D Reconstruction of Furniture Fragments from the Ancient Town of Karanis

Abstract

Furniture is the most personalized component of architectural space. It reflects or even determines the use of space, but also the standard of living, the gender, and age of the user. Heirlooms, furthermore, are retainers of memory and social relationships.  The raw materials used and the level of skill and craftsmanship to produce furniture speak to the availability of such items for the community. Import of wood, techniques, or entire pieces of furniture show connectedness with other production centers. Furniture fragments are abundant among the well-preserved archaeological finds from the ancient Greco-Roman Town of Karanis, a site located on the arid desert edge of the Fayum basin, Egypt. Objects include furniture legs, boxes, reading tables, and table tops. The University of Michigan mission which worked on the site for about ten years (1924-1934), had as its main focus the architecture of Karanis. The furnishings of these structure do, however, provide important information and a study of the woodworking and composition of the pieces has now been undertaken, together with an attempt to place these remains back in their virtual context. The reconstruction of the Karanis furniture provides a major challenge because the fragments belong to various time periods and combine Egyptian, Greek, and Roman influences and tastes. This research is a next phase of the project “Reviving Karanis in 3D”, which we started in 2013.  In this research, we aim at using state-of-the-art digital technologies to create multiple interpretations of 3D reconstruction of a selection of furniture pieces based on analysis and photogrammetric models of wood furniture fragments from the Karanis collection of the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan.