Thursday, 19 March 2009

Iceman Photo Scan: A glimpse of Oetzi, if you dare!


by Kathryn Hadley

To coincide with the opening of the ‘Mummies’ exhibition, the EURAC research institute in South Tyrol has recently launched the Iceman Photo Scan project, a revolutionary website which records the complete photographic documentation of the Iceman mummy. The website enables the user to view the entire mummified body and to zoom in to examine specific parts in incredible detail. The preservation conditions of the mummy prevent the public from having close access to the body and the project is thus aimed at providing an opportunity to discover the 5,300-year-old mummy without compromising its preservation.

Shots were taken from 12 different angles and almost 800 scans were necessary in order to map the whole body. Particular attention was paid to recording the tattoos on the mummy’s body, which it is possible to view in a special section of the website via high definition photos. A third section provides 3D photos of the mummy, which can be viewed using anaglyph glasses.

Visit the website http://iceman.eurac.edu. The Iceman Photo Scan website is also accessible via the homepage of the website of the EURAC institute - http://www.eurac.edu/
Above: Mummy of Imhotep, Vezir of Thebes, Egypt, 18th Dynasty, 1504 – 1492 BC, also on display in the exhibition 'Mummies: The dream of everlasting life' (Museo delle Antichità Egizie, Torino)

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