High Fidelity Lighting of Knossos

Abstract

Five kilometres from Heraklion, Crete is the Minoan Palace of Knossos. First discovered in 1878 by Minos Kalokairinos, the site today is most commonly associated with Sir Arthur Evans who bought the space in 1898 when Turkish occupation ceased in Crete. Evans excavated the site between 1900 and 1931, publishing a six volumes set 'The Palace of Minos at Knossos'. During his study, Evans carried out a number of 'reconstructions' at the site which have been the subject of much controversy over the years. Recent developments in computer graphics enable archaeological sites to be reconstructed on a computer without any alteration of the site itself. However, if such computer reconstructions are to be meaningful tools to enable archaeologists to explore hypothesis about a site, then these reconstructions have to be high fidelity representations incorporating all known evidence including, for visualisation of the site, knowledge of the lighting that was present when the site was being used. This paper describes a high fidelity reconstruction of part of the Knossos palace including accurate modelling of flame that may have been used to light the environment in the past.