In the last decade, archaeologists have been using human-occupied interactive digital built environments to investigate human agency,
settlement, and behavior. To document this evidence, we provide here one method of conducting drone-based photogrammetry and GIS
mapping from within these digital spaces based on well-established methods conducted in physical landscapes. Mapping is an integral part
of archaeology in the natural world, but it has largely eluded researchers in these new, populated digital landscapes. We hope that our
proposed method helps to resolve this issue. We argue that employing archaeological methods in digital environments provides a successful
methodological framework to investigate human agency in digital spaces for anthropological purposes and has the potential for
extrapolating data from human-digital landscape interactions and applying them to their natural analogues.

Punt, the fabulous land of the gods, was known to the Egyptians since the
Predynastic period. The precious resources from Punt were essential to perform
religious rituals and the pharaohs had to insure their continued availability to
perform said rituals and thus keep the cosmic order. Maintaining the cosmic order
would grant pharaohs the right to rule over Egypt. While during the Predynastic
Period, trade with Punt occurred through middlemen in the Old Kingdom a
maritime route was opened and the pharaohs organized direct commercial
expeditions to Punt. Queen Hatshepsut told about Punt and her inhabitants in the
reliefs of her temple at Deir el-Bahari. She undertook a commercial expedition to
the land of Punt to collect precious materials to carry back to Egypt.
Archaeological investigation has suggested that Punt included modern Eastern
Africa, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia. However, the information
regarding the route(s) to Punt, how to get there, and the organization of
expeditions to Punt is scarce and incomplete. This study presents an innovative
methodology involving spatial analyses (using ArcGIS Pro, and MATLAB) to
identify such long-distance trade routes. The calculations are based on geomorphology, information extracted from ancient texts and colonial reports,
and nutritional studies. Among the identified routes one was elected as the most
advantageous and efficient one, in terms of time and effort, connecting Memphis
(modern Cairo, ancient capital of Egypt) and Eastern Sudan (part of Punt). The
route has an initial land component, crossing the Eastern Desert from Memphis to
the Red Sea, then a maritime element, implying sailing along the Red Sea coast,
and finally walking a trek across the landscape of Eastern Sudan/Eritrea (from the
coast to the inland of Eastern Sudan).

We present a study of the general public's experience with virtual, augmented, and mixed reality representations (XR) of Egyptological collections at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East based on 3D models of objects. Our research presents potential strategies for the development of more interactive experiences to enhance education, preservation of cultural heritage, and archaeological scholarship. Furthermore, we provide a discussion of the advantages and limitations of incorporating and maintaining XR technologies as foundational tools in museum outreach. We argue that when equipped with proper training of facilitators, allocation of resources to maintain technology, and adequate preparation across staff and departments, virtual technologies in museum programming have the potential to enrich visitor experience within the existing museum environment by diversifying the modes of interaction between individuals and objects, engaging multiple senses, cementing memories, and igniting intellectual curiosity.

Since 2010, the recording of rock art and inscription sites with Yale Egyptology concession areas in Upper Egypt has led to the development of new digital techniques. Those combine easily available technology with archaeological expertise to produce and collate publishable facsimiles within the fieldwork period, while remaining true to the conventions ofthe finest ofearlier epigraphic publications. The ongoing threat to rock art sites and the recent ban of the Ministry of Antiquities on contact copies or direct tracings ofpetroglyphs brought urgency to effective and efficient means of documenting our archaeological sites. The nature of rock art itself, always unique and heterogeneous at the same time, does not allow technology to replace specialist knowledge: only an effective dialog between humans in the field and new technology has produced results both graphically attractive and practically useful. The present article will discuss the workflow we have developed, including the important role oftablet PCs in avoiding the potential distortion that intermediary copies may create (as well as multiple plastic sheets requiring re-alignment). Using an imaging-based recording technique called Structure from Motion, we are able to generate faithful and detailed three-dimensional models of the rock surface that are used to produce high-resolution ortho-rectified views (orthoimages) ofeach panel. Working on the orthoimages loaded into the tablet PC and tracing/collating in front ofthe original rock surface, the epigrapher can annotate, modify, or delete in realtime any information—both graphic and iconographic—pertaining to the petroglyphs. This facilitates the reading of the subject inscribed on the rock surface, even if irregular. It allows for a better control during the recording of inner and outer lines, especially for those areas that are damaged or weathered. Although our methodology was developed on Egyptian case studies, the series of tools and techniques involved are, in our opinion, much more broadly applicable to the wider panorama ofAfrican rock art and beyond.