Yashas Manjunatha: Excavation at Vulci, Italy

Research Travel Awards (Undergraduate): Summer 2017

With the generous support from the Quigley Fund, Yashas Manjunatha worked on the Vulci 3000 project under the direction of Classical Studies professor Maurizio Forte, with the end result being his development of a 3D app for the archaeological park. The fieldwork and digital data collection involved learning the capabilities and use of several devices and methods, including laser scanners, image modeling, spectral analysis, digital photogrammetry and remote sensing tools. 

Yashas’s particular work focused on the 3D modeling of the archaeological excavation. He worked with the team on the image  post-processing for digital photogrammetry (a well-established technique for acquiring dense 3D geometric information for real-world objects from stereoscopic image overlap), using data captured by aerial drones. The digital elevation models thus created allowed Yashas to develop a 3D game for the archaeological park. The 3D game includes a Virtual Reality guided tour of the park.

Yashas received warm thanks and congratulations from the director of the park and the President of the Fondazione Vulci for his important contributions.