The Ancient Mediterranean Digital Project: Its Current State and Future Directions

Enlarge

As part of the Digital Heritage Research Colloquium, Dr. Tzveta Manolova from LMU Munich’s Institute for Digital Cultural Heritage Studies will present a lecture titled “The Ancient Mediterranean Digital Project: Its Current State and Future Directions..”

Abstract:

The paper will present the current state of the Ancient Mediterranean Digital Project, a multi component ongoing open access digital project that involves a database on ancient ship representations, the creation of hundreds of 3D models based on the database collection using digital photogrammetry, and the ongoing creation of a virtual museum to host them, executed in the scope of two postdoctoral fellowships, first began at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2020-2022) and followed by a Marie Curie at LMU, Germany (2024-2026). Currently covering the eastern Mediterranean of the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age periods with a plan to further expand to the entire basin, the project is intended to become the principal online research tool on the topic of Mediterranean ships of the pre-classical periods, by providing an up-to-date, comprehensive dataset of ship representations, including in-depth contextual and technical information and analysis for each entry as well as high resolution, detailed visual documentation. The photogrammetry and virtual museum meanwhile are intended to create a space where objects can finally be reunited thematically and regionally – being currently dispersed in multiple museums and sometimes not on display at all.

The lecture takes place on Thursday, 27 November 2025, at 18:00 c.t., in Lecture Hall A119, LMU Main Building, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1.

Flyer Download:Dr. Tzveta Manolova Public Lecture (JPG, 3,248 KB)