Virtual Archeology Site
Art Joyce, Archeology

Professor Joyce proposed that ETH students create a web-based interactive tour of an archaeological site in Oaxaca, Mexico using about 100 of his digital photographs of the buildings. His anthropology students will take virtual fieldtrips to the site in order to learn about the religious symbolism of the city’s layout. Each building will have some text associated with it to highlight important features and explain the purpose of the building to the students.

Prasanna Yalavarthy and Wes Willett decided to use Flash to create an interactive site map of Oaxaca. They scanned a large map of the site and reduced its size. The buildings on the site plan have hot spots drawn on them. Clicking on a hot spot brings up an actual photograph of the building from that side. Professor Joyce has written explanatory text for each hot spot and sometimes provided additional close-up photographs of carvings or ancient book illustrations.