New Book from the Oriental Institute: Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East

Announced today:

OIMP 34.

Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East

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This fully illustrated catalog of essays, descriptions, and commentary accompanies the Oriental Institute special exhibit Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East (on exhibit February 7 through September 2, 2012). Picturing the Past presents paintings, architectural reconstructions, facsimiles, models, photographs, and computer-aided reconstructions that show how the architecture, sites, and artifacts of the ancient Middle East have been documented. It also examines how the publication of those images have shaped our perception of the ancient world, and how some of the more "imaginary" reconstructions have obscured our real understanding of the past. The exhibit and catalog also show how features of the ancient Middle East have been presented in different ways for different audiences, in some cases transforming a highly academic image into a widely recognized icon of the past.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Map of the Middle East

1. Introduction. Jack Green
2. The Oriental Institute and Early Documentation in the Nile Valley. Emily Teeter
3. The Epigraphic Survey and the “Chicago Method.” W. Raymond Johnson
4. The Sakkarah Expedition. Ann Macy Roth
5. Photography and Documentation of the Middle East. Emily Teeter
6. The Oriental Institute Photographic Archives. John A. Larson
7. Aerial Photographs and Satellite Images. Scott Branting, Elise MacArthur, and Susan Penacho
8. Facsimiles of Ancient Egyptian Paintings: The Work of Nina de Garis Davies, Amice Calverley, and Myrtle Broome. Nigel Strudwick
9. Preserving the Past in Plaster. William H. Peck
10. Drawing Reconstruction Images of Ancient Sites. Jean-Claude Golvin
11. The Persepolis Paintings of Joseph Lindon Smith. Dennis O’Connor
12. Three-Dimensional Digital Forensic Facial Reconstruction: The Case of Mummy Meresamun. Joshua Harker
13. A Brief History of Virtual Heritage. Donald H. Sanders

Catalog
Concordance of Museum Registration Numbers
Checklist of the Exhibit
Bibliography

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• Picturing the Past: Imaging and Imagining the Ancient Middle East
• Edited by Jack Green, Emily Teeter, and John A. Larson
• Oriental Institute Museum Publications 34
• Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 2012
• ISBN-10: 1-885923-89-9
• ISBN-13: 978-1-885923-89-9
• Pp. 184; 168 illustrations
• $29.95

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