VIRTUAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Ever wonder what the Parthenon was really like? What the ziggurat of Sumer was, or what the streets of Pompeii looked like before the lava struck? In a creative combination of the ancient and the new, archaeologists Forte and Siliotti use computer technology to virtually rebuild these sites and dozens of others, including those of the pyramids at Giza, the biblical city of Ur in Mesopotamia (now Iraq), and the solar-cult megalith Stonehenge as it might have appeared with the sun in various positions. The remarkable images reveal these remains in their original splendor- -faded frescoes restored, eroded walls rebuilt, gaps filled in. Aerial photographs of the actual sites provide comparison with the virtual reconstructions, and the substantial text explains how archaeological remains at each site were used as the basis for the reconstruction. Of course, much speculation and guesswork is invariably involved. Still—a totally cool way to visit the past. (Book-of-the-Month Club/Quality Paperback Book Club/Natural Science Book Club selection)