Virtual Qumran designer Dr. Robert Cargill is at the forefront of a rapidly evolving discipline. He uses virtual reality as a tool to conduct archaeological research on Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves. An archaeologist by training, Cargill has taken it upon himself to learn how to create a virtual reality model of a site, a skill most archaeologists haven’t picked up - yet. He generously took some time off from his busy schedule to talk to me about Virtual Qumran and how virtual reality is changing archaeology.
Model Behaviour
Highlighted Quote:
"One of the things that I’m proud of is that I’ve offered the world, I’ve offered whoever’s interested, a new methodology of doing virtual reconstruction"
Dr. Cargill earned a Master of Science degree in Ministry and his seminary degree, the Master of Divinity at Pepperdine University. While studying biblical studies at Pepperdine University, he began studying archaeology and Middle Eastern culture and politics. Dr. Cargill returned to Pepperdine in 2002 and taught courses in Hebrew Bible and New Testament at Pepperdine University. In 2004, he was hired by Academy Award winning actress Nicole Kidman to teach her history and religion of the Middle East.
He earned his Ph.D. under Dr. William Schniedewind in the UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, with an emphasis in Second Temple period archaeology and biblical studies. His dissertation work focused on the archaeological remains of Khirbet Qumran, the site associated with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Dr. Cargill was recently appointed as the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the UCLA Center for Digital Humanities, where he oversees the integration of technology into higher education classrooms and humanities research. He is a Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Research Associate at UCLA, and is the Chief Architect and Designer of the Qumran Visualization Project, a real-time virtual reconstruction of the site of Qumran.
The UCLA team creating and updating a virtual model of Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves, have now released free photos and videos of their work, which are now available to view and download from their website. Their project started in 2005 and has been continuing ever since, adding new archaeological information as it comes along. It includes a number of photos, and short videos which you can watch in high definition on their site, or on youtube.
