I perhaps should have known about this months and months ago, but renowned virtual developer Rezabble has created what appears to be a very impressive OpenSim-based virtual world devoted to ancient archeological sites called Heritage Key. At this point, the world contains one exhibit, a virtual King Tutankhamun's Tomb, complete with an archeological dig, museum, and a game-like interface to encourage visitors to interact with the artifacts. It's a beautifully rendered and immersive experience that presents the material in a way that would be hard realize with any other educational tool, short of flying to Egypt and having direct access to that country's treasured antiquities.
Second Life residents will find the interface and controls very familiar, since it's based on the Open Source / GPL version of the Second Life software. Others might need to spend more time on the orientation sim getting used to the controls and interface.
Find out more at http://heritage-key.com.
