←back to thread

Show HN: I 3D scanned the tunnels inside the Maya Pyramid Temples at Copan

(mused.com)
462 points lukehollis | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 12:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.259s | source

With these 3d captures, you can explore the 4km tunnel system that archaeologists created inside the temples at Copan that are closed to the public. The tunnels are often flooded by hurricanes and damaged by other natural forces--and collapsed on me and my Matterport scanner more than once--so this is a permanent record of how they appeared in 2022-23.

Unlike Egyptian pyramids, the Maya built their temples layer by layer outward, so to understand them, researchers tunneled into the structures to understand the earlier phases of construction. I arranged the guided versions of the virtual tours in a rough chronology, moving from the highest to the lowest and oldest areas: the hieroglyphic stairway composing the largest Maya inscription anywhere, the Rosalila temple that was buried fully intact, and finally the tomb of the Founder of the city, Yax Kʼukʼ Moʼ.

I've been working to build on top of the Matterport SDK with Three.js--and then reusing the data in Unreal for a desktop experience or rendering for film (coming soon to PBS).

Blog about process: https://blog.mused.com/what-lies-beneath-digitally-recording...

Major thanks to the Matterport team for providing support with data alignment and merging tunnels while I was living in the village near site.

Show context
ReallyOldLurker ◴[16 Oct 24 03:42 UTC] No.41855393[source]▶
Wow! That sure brings back memories. I've been there twice, 2011 & 2012. Congratulations. I'm very impressed.
replies(1): >>41855541 #
lukehollis ◴[16 Oct 24 04:15 UTC] No.41855541[source]▶
Thanks so much! Does it look very different / did you go in the tunnels?
replies(1): >>41858976 #
1. ReallyOldLurker ◴[16 Oct 24 13:44 UTC] No.41858976[source]▶
I was allowed to go down two short tunnels, one led to part of the underground drainage (the end of it was blocked so I didn't get to look at the drainage itself). Overall it seems the same. From the top of the pyramids in the back, we could look at the remains of the palace area, but it was roped off and I was told that the government was gearing up for archeological work there.The guide I was with talked a lot about how precise the courts were leveled to drain rainwater away and how after all these centuries the drainage still works perfectly.