Digital Discoveries in Knossos

Thursday 29 Jun 2023

Experience a virtual tour of a unique digital 3D model of the Palace of Minos at Knossos. The School of Archaeology at the University of Oxford have been working with the Ashmolean Museum to explore how web mapping applications can be used to open up access to archaeological archives. Join this interactive exploration of the model with Dr John Pouncett, followed by a Q&A to hear more about the potential use for this technology within archaeology. 

This work has been developed as part of a research project and exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum.

About the Exhibition Labyrinth: Knossos, Myth & Reality  

According to legend, an elaborate labyrinth was built at Knossos on the island of Crete to hold a ferocious Minotaur. Discover the palace of Knossos, and the search for the labyrinth, in this major exhibition in Oxford at the Ashmolean Museum. On until 30 July. 

Dr John Pouncett is a Research Fellow in Spatial Archaeology at the University of Oxford. He has a long-standing interest in GIS, spatial analysis and landscape archaeology, with a particular emphasis on spatial modelling of stable isotope data, the role of web-GIS in collaborative research, and Neolithic occupation and stone working on the Yorkshire Wolds. Recent and ongoing research includes identification of the likely sources of the raw materials used in prehistoric wood carvings from Pitch Lake (Trinidad), determination of the possible geographic origins of the individuals cremated and buried in the Aubrey Holes at Stonehenge (UK), development of the web-mapping application for the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland, creation of a map of biologically available strontium for Ireland, and geophysical and topographic survey on Lower Gypsades hill at Knossos (Crete).  He is an active member of Computer Applications & Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA).