Virtual reconstruction of Celtic oppidum Zavist near Prague

Krivanek,J.   Slavik,P.
Computer Graphics Group, Czech Technical University
Prague, Czech Republic 
e-mail: jarda@slimak.cz, slavik@cslab.felk.cvut.cz

Celtic oppidum Zavist was established in the first half of the 6th century B.C. For almost two centuries this oppidum was an important location both of social and economic life on the territory of present Czech Republic. The size of the oppidum area was quite large - about 27 ha. This area was surrounded by complex fortifications. Besides buildings of various purposes a very important part of the oppidum was created by acropolis with sacral function.

The area of the former oppidum has been investigated by archeologists in last decades very extensively and a lot of  important artefacts have been found. Due to this intensive research the scientists got a very good idea about the structure of the oppidum in general and about structure of some buildings in particular. In the framework of cooperation between Archeological Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences and Computer Graphics Group at Czech Technical University in Prague a decision was taken to perform virtual reconstruction of the acropolis which was part of the investigated oppidum.

The reconstruction has been based on results of investigations carried out in last decades. Up to now there were only some drawings, created by artists, available that gave some general idea about the structure, size and other attributes of the site. The virtual reconstruction resulted in VRML based model. Such a model allows the user (virtual visitor) to make virtual walkthroughs in the site. In order to achieve higher quality of static pictures (that can accompany some texts about the oppidum) the model has been transformed into 3D Max environment. The pictures that are results of the rendering of such a model are of better quality that pictures generated in web environment.

The model has been used by Czech archeologists. One of applications to come are pictures in the book under preparation.
The authors would like to express thanks to archeologists in the Archeological Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences who provided the help, support and advice during the course of the project.