Latest Articles

Apr 27, 2020

Laser cleaning of Ancient Egyptian Wall Paintings in the Tomb of Neferhotep TT49

We’d like to showcase a project that used laser technology to remove dirt and soot from the fragile wall paintings of an ancient Egyptian tomb – a technology that may become a tremendous aid in the future of epigraphy.

Apr 24, 2020

Recording Djehutihotep. Digital epigraphy in a Middle Kingdom governor’s tomb at Dayr al-Barsha (Part 2)

After our preliminary study was completed, we set out to fully document the preserved decoration in the tomb of Djehutihotep. With originally more than 250 m² of painted surface and a high degree of detail in the decoration, this poses quite a...

Apr 17, 2020

Modeling the Past: Creating 3D Models from Archival Imagery

Since the inception of photography, Egypt and its monuments have found themselves the subject of countless photographers, not to mention millions upon millions of tourists. The photogrammetric processes used to generate 3D datasets...

Apr 13, 2020

Three Ancient Egyptian Coffins at Harvard University

Some of our Egyptological work at Harvard centers around 3D modeling as a research and teaching tool, digital epigraphy, graphic design and book production. Our Giza Project at Harvard, now in its twentieth year...

Apr 6, 2020

The First Pylon of the Mut Temple, South Karnak - Architecture, Decoration, Inscriptions

In 2014, the Mut Precinct in South Karnak reopened its gates to the public after being closed for almost 40 years. The reopening was the result of the work of the Brooklyn Museum’s expedition to the Mut Precinct...

Mar 23, 2020

The new One is the cheapest among Wacom's budget-conscious drawing displays

With the just released Wacom One, digitalEPIGRAPHY revisits and compares Wacom's budget options to see if the new Cintiqs can be competitive enough in the well-established low-cost drawing display market.

Mar 2, 2020

From Pencil to Photoshop: Creating a Hypothetical Version of Tomb KV 63’s Damaged Coffin C

In 2006, Dr. Ray Johnson, the director of the Epigraphic Survey in Luxor, contributed to the Amenmesse Project/KV 10⎼KV 63 by lending me and my artistic skills to draw the coffins found by Dr. Otto Schaden † and his team in the Valley of the...

Feb 4, 2020

Approaches to Archaeological Illustration, A Handbook by Mélanie Steiner

This time, we would like to introduce a long planned new series here at digitalEPIGRAPHY’s Reading section that concentrates on recording archaeological artifacts.

Jan 29, 2020

Adonit’s brand new Note+ offers a lot of functionality for a reasonable price as long as you have the app for it

If you are looking for a more professional drawing experience on the iPad, but don't want to spend a lot on the Apple Pencil, Adonit’s new $69.99 stylus, called Adonit Note+ could very well be your best option.

Jan 27, 2020

Windows users with iPads rejoice! Astro HQ is bringing Astropad cross-platform in 2020

Anybody who reads digitalEPIGRAPHY on a regular basis probably knows by now, how fond we are of Astro’s solution, that transforms the iPad into a makeshift Wacom tablet via a little dongle, called Luna Display.

Jan 23, 2020

PaperLike 2 matte screen protector to provide a much-improved drawing surface on the iPad

After yet another successful Kickstarter campaign, creator Jan Sapper and his team are back with the refined version of their original matte iPad screen protector, especially designed for artists

Jan 15, 2020

Taharqa Meets Wacom — A Case Study for Taharqa Gate and A Wacom Intuos Pro review

Within the Medinet Habu Temple complex in Thebes, just north of the Small Temple and near the Sacred Lake, is an unassuming monument standing alone among the remaining rubble of an ancient mudbrick wall.

Jan 10, 2020

Procreate 5 is here with Photoshop brush support, palette improvements and much more

With Procreate being our most important software used for digital penciling in the field, digitalEPIGRAPHY has been keeping an eye on Savage Interactive’s development, awaiting anxiously for their annual update.

Dec 16, 2019

Reconstructing the Western High Gate Digitally

In the 2018-19 season at the Epigraphic Survey we began to seriously experiment with the idea of creating 3D photogrammetric models for the blocks of the Western High Gate at Medinet Habu Temple.

Dec 9, 2019

Tidbits of the digital Chicago method Part 6 - Initiating selections and transformations in Procreate

Being able to do quick editing at the wall can be rewarding at times. We’d like to show you how to make precise selections and interact with the selected elements in Procreate.

Dec 2, 2019

A budget friendly drawing display packed with features: XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro (Holiday Edition)

The new XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro, with its especially low pricing (only available through the Holidays!), can be worthy of anyone's attention looking for their next studio device.

Nov 30, 2019

Relief fragments from the valley temple of the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur

The Free University Berlin, in cooperation with the German Archaeological Institute Cairo (DAI), has been exploring the royal necropolis of Dahshur since 2000.

Nov 26, 2019

It's official - Adobe Illustrator including tablet-specific features is coming to the iPad next year

In the past year or so, Adobe has been unusually active adopting its desktop software to Apple’s tablet. Their next mobile app with desktop-class ambitions is none other than Adobe Illustrator.

Nov 22, 2019

Let's talk about... damage - representing discontinuity of decorative surfaces

Due to centuries of decay and abuse of the monuments, there is one apparent feature that stands out immediately when we look at tomb or temple walls today: the tremendous amount of loss of the original surface.

Nov 19, 2019

Photoshop, dragged down by lackluster features, finally arrives to the iPad – Hands-on with Adobe’s long-awaited creative tool

More than a year after Adobe's announcement, Adobe Photoshop for the iPad is finally available as a free download through Apple’s App Store. We’d like to share our first impressions getting around the interface and working with the mobile...