The Northwest Palace of Ashur-nasir-pal II at Nimrud

Calliope Magazine
2004     The Assyrians.  vol.15.1. September.

Kim, Youngseok, T. Kesavadas, and Samuel M. Paley. 2003. "The UBVSM: Real-time Interactive Museum for the Northwest Palace in Iraq," pp.54-61 in Hal Thwaites, ed., VSMM 2003. Proceedings.Ninth International Conference on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia. Hybrid Reality: Art, Technology, and the Human Factor, International Society on Virtual Systems and Multimedia. For more information on the University of Buffalo Virtual Site Museum, see: http://wings.buffalo.edu/academic/department/eng/mae/vrlab/project_vmuseum/vmuseum.html

Kim, Youngseok, T. Kesavadas, Samuel M. Paley and Donald H. Sanders. 2001. "Real-Time Animation of King Ashur-nasir-pal II (883-859 BC) in the Virutal Recreated Northwest Palace," pp.128-136 in Hal Thwaites and Lon Addison. VSMM 2001. Proceedings. Seventh Annual Conference on Virtual Systems and MultiMedia. Enhanced Realities: Augmented and Unplugged. 25-27 October 2001. Center for Design Visualization, University of California, Berkeley: Berkeley.

Paley, Samuel M. 2006. "The NWP and the Cıtadel Digital Project at Nimrud (Kuzeybatı Sarayı ve Nimrud'ta Yürütülen Dijital Akropol Projesi)," IDOL -- The Journal of the Association of Archaeologists (IDOL -- Arkeologlar Derneği Dergisi) 29:15-20.

----. 2003. "Nimrud, the War and the Antiquities Market," IFARJournal 6.1 & 2:50-55. Also online at: http://www.ifar.org/nimrud.htm

----. 2003. "The citadel of Nimrud (Kalhu) / La Citadelle de Nimrud (Kalhu)". Bulletin. The Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies / La Société canadienne des études mésopotamiennes 38 (September). p.75 and sleeved CD-ROM (with interactive content).

----. 1997. "Winged, Human-Headed Genius and Royal Attendant," pp.70-74 in Catalogue of the MIHO MUSEUM: South Wing, edited and published by the MIHO MUSEUM, Shiga, Japan.

----. 1976. King of the World: Ashur-nasir-pal II of Assyria, 883-859 B.C. Brooklyn,  NY: The Brooklyn Museum.

Paley, Samuel M. and Richard P. Sobolewski. 1997. "The Outer Facade of the Throne Room of the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud (Kalhu)," pp.331-35 in Assyrien im Wandel der Zeiten. XXXIXe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Heidelberg 6.-10. July 1992. Heidelberg.

----. 1995. "A Kneeling Human-headed Genius in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art," pp.615-19 in Beiträge zur Kulturgeschichte Vorderasiens. Festschrift für Rainer Michael Boehmer. Mainz.

----. 1992 & 1987. The Reconstruction of the Relief Representations and Their Positions in the Northwest-Palace at Kalhu (Nimrud) vols. II, III. Mainz am Rhein.

----. 1985. "Reconstructing the Assyrian Palace of Ashurnasirpal II," Bulletin--The Society for Mesopotamian Studies 10:1-16.

Snyder, Alison B. (published drawings of the Northwest Palace)

1997. South Facade of the Great Northern Courtyard (reproduced here) published in Paley 1997 and in Martha L. Carter, "The Ancient Near East," pp.325-34 in Catalogue of the MIHO MUSEUM: South Wing, edited and published by the MIHO MUSEUM, Shiga, Japan.

1997. Perspective view of the Throne Room of the Northwest Palace (reproduced here) published in Paley.

Sobolewski, Richard P. 1994. "Rekonstruktion des Norwestpalastes in Nimrud. Bemerkungen zu einigen in situ gefundenen architektonischen Elementen," pp.255-64 in Festschrift für Barthel Hrouda zum 65. Geburtstag. Wiesbadan.

----. 1981. "The Polish Work at Nimrud: ten years of excavation and study," Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 71:248-73.

----. 1978. "Third Preliminary Report on the Polish Excavations at Kalhu," Etudes et Travaux 11:253-57.

----. 1977. "Die Ausgrabungen in Kalhu (Nimrud) 1974-76," Archiv für Orientforschungen 25:230-38.

To Whom: Regis de Closets, France2 TV. 

Purpose:  TV Program on virtual archaeology (no response from them regarding its use). 

Image: Short flythrough (sent on video tape) of the 3D model of the Palace's northern courtyard ending at Entry D. 

To Whom: HiTechMarketing (public relations firm). 

Purpose: Articles written by HiTechMarketing on Learning Sites' use of the DataCAD software package for building 3D models and on using VR for understanding globally dispersed cultural artifacts.  Published articles include:  "Reliving the Past: Archaeological Sites Brought to Life Through CAD and Virtual Reality," v.26, #7:24-28, T.H.E. Journal (Technological Horizons in Education Journal). 1999.  Herrmann-Keeling, Scott, "Pyramid Report: Reliving the Past," CAD Systems, April, v.17, #3, p.18. 1999.

Images: 2 renderings from the model and 1 image of in situ remains; 2 updated renderings. 

To Whom: B.J. Novitski. 

Purpose:  Description of goals and methods used by Learning Sites, with examples of our work in a book and CD-ROM entitled Rendering Real and Imagined Buildings, Rockport Publishers: Gloucester, MA, 1998). 

Image: 1 close-up rendering of Entry D. 

To Whom: Juan Barcelo, Chair, Organizing Committee for the Festival on Virtual Reality, Computer Applications in Archaeology Society. 

Purpose: Inclusion in a comprehensive video compendium on the use of virtual reality in archaeology.  The images were included also in a paper and a demonstration presented by Donald H. Sanders, at the Computer Applications in Archaeology Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 3/98. 

Images: 3 renderings and one short flythrough. 

To Whom: Lucie Dingwall, Editor. 

Purpose: Article for the Proceedings of the Computer Applications in Archaeology Conference for 1997, held in Birmingham, England: "Virtual Worlds for Archaeological Research and Education," by Donald H. Sanders, in L. Dingwall, S. Exon, V. Gaffney, S. Laflin, and M. van Leusen, Archaeology in the Age of the Internet - CAA97; Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 25th Anniversary Conference. University of Birmingham. April 1997, British Archaeological Reports #S750, Archaeopress: Oxford. 1999.

Image: 1 rendering of 3D model of the Palace. 

To Whom:  Diana Phillips Mahoney, Managing Editor. 

Purpose: Article in Computer Graphics World (vol. 21.4:81-82), concerning the methods used by Learning Sites in constructing a complex virtual world and the benefits of such an approach for a project like the Northwest Palace publication. 

Images: 2 very high-resolution renderings of the 3D model of the Palace. 

To Whom: Dr. Yesi Maharaj Singh, F.A.B.R.I.CATORS sas, Milan, Italy.

Purpose: Display at the MediARTech99 multimedia exhibition and conference, and subsequent publication in the catalogue:  Virtuality & Interactivity II, Virtuality & Interactivity II: MediARTech: Digital Renaissance conference and exhibit (held May 26-30, 1999, Florence), catalogue edited by Franz Fischnaller, F.A.B.R.I.CATORS, Milan, [np]. 1999.

Images:  the virtual world of the Palace and several renderings of the Throne Room, such as:

To Whom:  Ken Maskell, Editor

Purpose: Cover illustration for TIES Magazine (Jan./Feb. issue), the magazine of design and technology education.  The issue carried an article about Learning Sites.

Images: rendering of the Palace Throne Room with areas fading to the computer wireframe model.

To Whom:  The Virtual Heritage Network (VHN)

Purpose: Cover story on the VHN Website about Learning Sites and current projects.

Images: renderings of the Palace Throne Room.

To Whom:  The Williams College Museum of Art

Purpose: Exhibition celebrating the 75th anniversary of the museum and highlighting the two Assyrian reliefs in their collection; both of which come from the Northwest Palace, Nimrud.  For the exhibition, Learning Sites prepared a 3-minute flythrough of the Palace featuring the Williams College reliefs.

Images: Complete flythrough of the rooms we have completed thus far.

To Whom:  VARA-NL, Dutch public television

Purpose: Televison program on the preservation of historical data through the use of new technologies, including virtual reality; one thrid of the show was devoted to the visualizations created by Learning Sites for the digital preservation of archaeological sites.  Interviews with Donald H. Sanders, President of Learning Sites took place inside the virtual model of the Palace, through innovative blue screen technologies. 

Images: Models and renderings from the Palace used by the televsion crew to film interviews.

To Whom: The Dalton School, New York City (a private K-12 school).

Purpose: Integration into the School's own software package for teaching about Assyrian history, archaeology, and archaeological research and analysis techniques.

Images: A series of linked Apple QuickTimeVR^® panoramas.

To Whom: Patricia Donovan, Contributing Editor

Purpose: Article in the University at Buffalo Reporter about the UB - Learning Sites collaboration.

Images: Rendering from the latest version of the Northwest Courtyard.

To Whom: Karen Moltenbrey, Senior Associate Editor

Purpose: Article in Computer Graphics World magazine about virtual heritage projects.

Images: Rendering from the latest version of the Throne Room.

To Whom: Patricia Donovan, Senior Editor, University News Services

Purpose: Article in UBtoday magazine about Northwest Palace project on campus

Images: Views from the virtual reality model mounted on VR equipment at the University at Buffalo.

To Whom: John Haskins, Editor

Purpose: Article in the New York Times, Circuits section about virtual archaeology

Images: New renderings from the latest version of the model

To Whom: Luis Veronese, US editorial representative

Purpose: Article in Veja magazine

Images: Rendering from the latest version of the model, showing Room F
 

To Whom: William Fanning, Academic Dean, All Saints' Episcopal School 

Purpose: Illustration in forthcoming book Great Lives in Ancient History

Images: Rendering from the latest version of the model, showing the Throne Room

To Whom: Michael Masland, Producer, National Geographic Television

Purpose: for July 6, 2003 MSNBC program entitled Iraq's Lost Antiquities

Images: new walkthrough animation of the Throne Room and Room F

To Whom: Melody J. Curtis, Program Coordinator, Educational and Cultural Programs, The Smithsonian Associates

Purpose: Illustration for Smithsonian Associate magazine, advertising lecture series that includes Samuel Paley on the NWPalace, Nimrud

Images: rendering of the Throne Room