Dr. Peter Lacovara, Senior Curator of Egyptian, Nubian, and Near Eastern Art, is now preparing to excavate the Palace of Amenhotep III at Malqata. Malqata, located on the Nile’s west bank near Thebes, in the desert south of Medinet Habu, is famous as the palace in which the young Tutankamun grew up. A ten-year plus joint project of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Michael C. Carlos Museum, the Malqata survey and mapping, will cover a two by five mile area and will include a 3-D virtual fly-through of the royal city.

The Malqata site is of critical importance to archaeology today as few pharaonic settlements have survived. Although this area has been excavated by a number of expeditions over the years there has never been a synthesis and comprehensive publication of the work undertaken. Many factors threaten these historic locations including the fact that the sites are constructed of fragile mud brick. Unrecognizable as stone structures, they are vulnerable to the passage of time and to the rapid urban, touristic and agricultural expansion of nearby cities, in this case, Luxor.

After the initial survey, the Carlos Museum will collaborate with Georgia Tech's Imagine Lab (IL) in the School of Architecture. The IL provides exemplary applications of cutting edge architectural visualization technologies and is interested in applying these technologies to archaeological field work to reproduce the 3-D virtual fly-through.

In 2010, the Carlos Museum will also be developing a website for teachers and students that will allow classrooms throughout Georgia to take an active role in learning about archaeological methods and history by asking Dr. Lacovara questions, reading his dig diary and viewing maps and video using real-time media.