Research and fun: digital archaeology puzzle at Buch Wien

Archaeologist Stephan Karl knows that it takes a lot of dexterity to put historical fragments together to form a whole. Experimenting in virtual space is easier - and more gentle on objects. Photo: University of Graz/wildundwunderbar

Archaeologist Stephan Karl used the natural intelligence of online gamers to reassemble over a hundred fragments of a 1500-year-old altar slab. The game with the virtual pieces can also be tried out at Buch Wien until November 24.

"Crowdsourcing" is intended to help to correctly assemble historical fragments into a whole - in this specific case the (digitised) pieces of an altar slab from East Tyrol. The more eyes and ears that participate, the better. This was the starting point for the research project by Stefan Karl, an archaeologist at the University of Graz, and Reinhold Preiner, a computer scientist at Graz University of Technology. The virtual puzzle game, which actually succeeded in putting the incomplete finds back into their original order, can be tried out at Buch Wien. Details of the research project can be found in UNIZEIT.

Dagmar Eklaude

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