The State Museum of Egyptian Art (SMAEK) houses one of the world’s most significant collections of ancient Egyptian artifacts. The collection currently comprises nearly 8,500 objects, with more than 3,000 originating from funerary contexts. These include approximately 520 architectural elements from tombs, 1,000 grave goods, and 260 human and burial remains, featuring 11 complete mummies and 40 complete coffins.
For the EXCALIBUR project, SMAEK provides a diverse dataset for testing, including approximately 250 3D models of statues, coffins, and tomb architecture, as well as complex osteological material for advanced CT analysis.
The artifacts within the SMAEK collection serve as invaluable carriers of religious and historical texts expressed through complex iconography. A major highlight of the museum’s research is the material from the pre- and early-dynastic and Greco-Roman cemetery of Minshat Abu Omar, where over 3,000 graves were unearthed. These findings provide a comprehensive record of funerary evolution in ancient Egypt and Sudan.
The site is globally recognized for its unique works of ancient Egyptian sculpture, including statues of kings, deities, and high dignitaries, which stand as primary representatives of Mediterranean cultural heritage.
Semantic Knowledge Enrichment
Utilize Large Language Models (LLMs) and AI to automate the creation of Linked Open Data (LOD) that incorporates the symbolic and iconographic significance of Efyptian funerary culture.
Natural Language Interaction
Develop an AI-based chatbot that allows researchers and the public to query the collection's knowledge graph using natural language.
Volumetric Reconstruction
Implement advanced CT-scan processing and 3D mesh alignmet to visualize the internal structures of mummies and fragile burial findings withoiut invasive procedures.
High-Fidelity Surface Analysis
Capture the intricate details of stelae, papyri, and monochromatic bas-reliefs using Multi-Light Image Collections (MLIC) to monitor and preserve delicate surface features.
Toolkit Integration
Populate and validate the EXCALIBUR interoperable platform with one of the world's most extensive digital Egyptian datasets.
EXCALIBUR Toolkits Utlized
TK 1: Improved MLIC capture and processing techniques
For acquiring multi-layered surface representations of geometrically intricate artworks like stelae and paintings
TK 2: Risk mapping toolkit for tracking material degradation
Monitoring structural damage and environmental threats to the museum’s stone and wooden collection
TK 3: Immersive visualisation component for combined representations
Fusing 3D surface scans with CT-scan data to create digital twins of mummies and burial containers
TK 4: Empowered Chatbot
Serving as a natural language interface to query the specific iconographic and symbolic data of the SMAEK collection
TK 5: AI for Cultural Heritage
Automating feature recognition (such as Egyptian deities or hieroglyphs) and refining massive digitization workflows
TK 9: Multimodal semantic data fusion
Integrating heterogeneous datasets (text, image, 3D) into a unified, searchable knowledge graph
TK 10: Interoperable human-centred platform to upload and update cultural assets
The centralized hub for managing and updating the museum’s digital cultural assets
TK 11: Ethnographic storyliving experiences creator for virtual worlds
Creating immersive narratives that blend physical remnants with the social and ritual context of ancient Egyptian life
TK 12: Advanced digitisation toolkit
Employing high-definition photogrammetry for the detailed recording of burial findings
Involved Partners
SMAEK
Manages the pilot site and provides the extensive collection of Egyptian artifacts, mummies, and archive documents for digitization
LMU
Leads the development of the empowered chatbot (TK4) and focuses on semantic web technologies, Large Language Models (LLMs), and Linked Open Data creation for the SMAEK collection
CRS4
Implements high-fidelity surface imaging (TK1) for detailed visual analysis of flat but geometrically complex museum objects
CTL
Delivers the multimodal semantic data fusion (TK9) through the CASPAR framework and manages the centralized interoperable platform (TK10)
CERTH
Coordinates the ethnographic storyliving experiences (TK11) and provides the game-engine-based visualization tools for combining CT and 3D data (TK3)
CWI
Focuses on the optimization of CT-scan datasets and the development of algorithms for high-speed 3D mesh creation (TK3, TK5)
IHU
Develops the risk mapping methodologies for tracking material degradation across the collection’s diverse material classes (TK2)
PIX4D
Supplies advanced photogrammetry and interpretation toolkits for the detailed digitization of tomb architecture and burial artifacts (TK12)
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