M. T. GIANNOTTA | F. GABELLONE | A. DELL’AGLIO
(CNR-IBAM, Lecce, Italy)

Abstract:
The Project “MARTA tells. Hidden treasures’s virtual stories” had the aim to make accessible, in the Museo ARcheologico Nazionale di TAranto (MARTA), some hypogean funerary monuments of ancient Taranto through a Virtual Reality installation. To this end, we created a system that allows to visit, in remoto, buried o inaccessible monuments, offering an integrated use of their historical and archaeological data everywhere preserved. The visit is based on the production of 3D replicas of some ancient monumental tombs, that where the original location of the archaeological artefacts now in MARTA’s collections, such as architectural elements, ornamental sculptures, sets of grave goods. In this way three monuments of the necropolis of Taranto preserved in situ in the modern urban context, but accessible only through private property were returned to fruition. These are: the Twin Tombs in via Sardegna, the Hypogeum of the Gorgons in via Otranto and the Tomb of the Festoons in via Crispi. These hypogean chamber tombs are very interesting, since they show architectural and decorative features common to other Hellenistic monuments (4th-2nd centuries B.C.). The virtual tour includes two different types of visit. While the first tour is based on an active approach, the second is based on a passive one through a stereoscopic movie in computer animation, where the monuments are presented with an illustrative and appealing narrative. The narrative of stereoscopic movie is developed in two sections. The first, starting from the foundation of the Greek colony of Taranto, illustrates the historical and cultural background, focusing in particular on some aspects of the funerary ritual and the eschatological beliefs of the Greeks. The second section includes the history of the discovery of each chamber tomb, introduced by some overall data on the Taranto necropolis.

Keywords: Stereoscopic Movie, Ancient Taranto, Hypogean Tombs