The virtual restoration of the Visir tomb

In the field of computer applications to archaeology, data visualization is one of the most recent and promising activity. The visual reconstruction obtained from partially or totally ruined data is a problem that archaeologists often face with during their work. The case we present here is the simulated reconstruction of a great Egyptian tomb of the VII century B.C. excavated in the rocky cliff of the desert. The visualization method is fundamental for testing the hypotheses made and as a strategic solution in the concrete reconstruction. The hundreds of magnificent decorated blocks saved by museums will never be positioned again on its walls. Moreover, in front of the stress and pollution caused to ancient monuments by a massive tourism, the ever-growing improving of visualization and animation techniques, like the ones presented in this paper, makes of considerable interest the modeling and the exploration inside the virtual monuments through realistic tours.<<ETX>>