About - Who is Stephan M. Unter?

To give a little bit of background information on myself the following section provides a brief overview of my academic history as the creator of the Virtual Light Table.

As an Egyptology graduate from Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, I fulfilled my childhood dream of becoming an Egyptologist. In 2013, I completed my Master's degree there with a thesis on the graphic structuring markings and layouts of ancient Egyptian papyri. Furthermore, I was fortunate enough to participate in several archaeological field seasons in Tuna el-Gebel, Middle Egypt, from 2010 until 2012.

At the same time, I did not want to ignore my interest in technology entirely, which is why I commenced a Bachelor's degree in Media Informatics at LMU Munich. In 2015, I completed this degree with the creation of software for exhibiting and examining photographic EXIF data.

My relocation to the University of Basel afforded me the chance to function as a computational scientist on another archaeological project, specifically the Life Histories of Theban Tombs project. This granted me experience with various tasks such as constructing and managing databases, and processing and utilising photogrammetric models. In parallel, I pursued a master's degree in computer science, with emphasis on machine learning. In my 2019 thesis, I examined the classification and segmentation of erosion zones in aerial photographs of valleys in Switzerland.

With my work on the Crossing Boundaries project, I have combined my two academic passions - Egyptology, and specifically papyri, as well as computer science and machine learning. As a result, my dissertation expands beyond the realm of the Virtual Light Table. My research delves into the use of a multi-modal approach for identifying how machines can analyse images and content of ancient Egyptian papyri, and attempt to establish connections between them.

Contact

For questions, technical issues for feature ideas, please don't hesitate to contact me via email