An ancient Roman home can be seen through the eyes of its long-dead owners, thanks to imaging technology that makes digital reconstructions of cultural relics appear more realistic.
Archaeological excavations of the 'House of the Fountains' — built in the first century AD in the Roman town of Conimbriga in Portugal — revealed fountain-filled gardens, wall frescoes and elaborate mosaic tile floors. To get a sense of what the house might have looked like when illuminated by candlelight, Alexandrino Gonçalves of the Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Portugal, and his team made digital reconstructions of a room using high-dynamic-range imaging technology, which captures light intensity levels with a sensitivity similar to that of the human eye.
Volunteers favoured candlelit images (pictured left) over those illuminated with electric light (right), describing the former as “warm” and “comforting”. Eye-tracking experiments suggested that volunteers focused more on the frescoes and mosaics when viewing them under candlelight than under electric lighting.
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A new light on the past. Nature 491, 162 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/491162a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/491162a
