Ancient Synagogues and the Human Sensorium

How Digital and Experiential Methods Can Transform Our Understanding of the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Textures of Early Jewish History

Up until now, scholars have lacked the methodological tools to capture ancient sensory “experience”. This Pufendorf Theme aims to open a new research area in the study of ancient synagogues by developing sensory-experiential analytic methods engaging with state-of-the-art digital technologies. 

The Theme will develop a two-part research programme. The first will focus on the modelling of research-based, historically accurate, and high-quality 3D reconstructions based on archaeological remains. This will include methodological development that leads to the construction of immersive, interactive, and photorealistic models, which not only simulate the built environment but also the social environment.

The second part will use the experiential methods to study sense perception in the reconstructed built environments. It will focus on experiences of visibility, acoustics, olfaction, and tactility, and their relationship to socio-cognitive processes involving emotion, memory, identity construction, and religious experience. While ancient synagogues are the specific case study in this project, the Theme anticipates that the sensory analytic methods together with the visualization and production of history by digital technology, will be of great value to other research fields. The combination will benefit researchers who want to study the various sensory elements of ancient buildings in an entirely new way.