For several decades, archaeologists in Greece have been painstakingly attempting to reconstruct wall paintings that hold valuable clues to the ancient culture of Thera, an island civilization that was buried under volcanic ash more than 3,500 years ago. This Herculean task -- more than a century of further work at the current rate -- soon may get much easier, thanks to an automated system developed by a team of Princeton University computer scientists working in collaboration with archaeologists
Archive
Szymon Rusinkiewicz, David Dobkin, Tim Weyrich, and Benedict Brown explain "virtual archaeologist" software they invented to help streamline the painstaking process of reconstructed ancient wall paintings.
