[Aztlan] Laser mapping tool traces ancient sites

[eschele at mail.utexas.edu]

INNOVATIONS
Laser mapping tool traces ancient sites: Device made for contractors helps
archaeologists create first-ever digital blueprints
Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Orinda retiree Ben Kacyra has made the biggest contribution to archeological
research since Indiana Jones added the bullwhip to his field kit.

Kacyra, who made his fortune as an inventor and civil engineer, has created a
foundation to explore the research of a cameralike device that uses lasers to
scan three-dimensional objects -- such as archaeological ruins -- to create
digital blueprints accurate to within a few millimeters.

Born in northern Iraq in 1940, Kacyra developed this laser-mapping tool several
years ago to solve a problem in construction -- keeping accurate records of the
real dimensions of factories and power plants when they deviate from the
architect's plans.

The 67-year-old sold his invention in 2001 and now works with his wife, Barbara,
to get the $100,000 tool into the hands of archaeological researchers who are
using it to create electronic blueprints so accurate that scientists sitting at
computer terminals can glean the secrets of ancient monuments remotely.

"We both loved the ancient-built environment and we wanted to put high
technology to use saving ancient places," Kacyra said.

Today the Kacyras have created a Web site, at www.cyark.org, that allows anyone
to see these blueprintlike images. But that's just the start. Down the line
they would like to superimpose real graphics on top of these geospatial maps --
recreating ancient worlds onscreen.

For Kacyra, it's all part of sharing a love of the past that he learned as a boy
growing up in Mosul, an Iraqi city known during biblical times as Nineveh.

"That's where the whale spit out Jonah," says Kacyra, who used to picnic near
the gates of the ancient city where Assyrian chariots once thundered forth.

"My dad loved archaeology and he used to take me to all the ruins," recalled
Kacyra, an Iraqi Christian who got his undergraduate degree at a Jesuit college
in Baghdad before immigrating to the United States in 1964 to get a master's
degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois.

To read more...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/07/22/BUG5IR472Q1.DTL&type=business

And to see a video of how they used this at Tikal:

Video of the laser mapper at Tikal, go to: archive.cyark.org/map/tik

Elaine