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Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies

University of Arkansas

Virtual Archeology and Visualization Justification

Home » Research » Archaeology/Historic Preservation » Archaeological Visualization » Center for Heritage Visualization » Virtual Archeology and Visualization Justification

Wide use of 3D visualization and similar computer models are essential to engage new (particularly younger) segments of the population and increase understanding and interest in the nation's heritage. U.S. heritage interpretation dramatically lags behind European efforts in this arena and this resource center will, hopefully, provide critically needed impetus to growth. The Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies, in collaboration with the UA Department of Classics, the UA Honors College, Arkansas Parks and Tourism and the Arkansas Archeological Survey,is creating a web-based national resource for developers of digital three dimensional visualizations for prehistoric and historic properties. The site will include content that focuses on visualization for research, teaching, and public presentation. The goal is to make these methods more accessible to heritage professionals, interpreters, and others. Currently computer visualizations are restricted in their use in large part because of a lack of education, and access to tools and information.

These resources are designed serve both the professional cultural heritage community and the public. They promote use, education, and communication among professionals in technologies that have been underutilized but are in wide and growing use in Europe (Niccolucci 2002).  

The benefit of virtual archeology goes beyond its presentation value by enhancing scholarly analysis and interpretation. The process of three-dimensional model creation will often lead to additional discoveries that significantly increase understanding. As Roehl (1997) and Peterson (1997) point out, the process of creating virtual worlds often provokes novel and interesting questions. The need to position light sources leads to the question of ancient sources of illumination (Peterson et al. 1997). The development of individual object visualizations using high-end visualization software (e.g. SoftImage, Vue6, Studio 3DS Max, Cinema 4D, etc.) frequently requires the development of visualization primitives and the manipulation of these primitives in ways that closely mimic the actual physical construction of the object. As a result, the aggregate process of visualization often provides insights into the physical processes as well as requirements for a well understood and defined knowledge base. For example, the addition of a specific structural feature to a visualization leads to questions about building materials, decoration, and finishes. The reconstruction of a house leads to questions about interior design, the presence or absence of furniture or wall decorations. At some level, therefore, the process of building the visualization has methodological parallels to experimental design and the assessment of alternative outcomes.

Heritage professionals have always used creative visualization to reconstruct life-ways from the fragmentary remains of material culture and the historic record (Kantner 2000). In this sense, computer visualization can be seen simply as the extension of the traditional "artist reconstruction." Computer visualization is different, however, in that the tools provide the capability to  create multiple views that may reflect multiple hypotheses. For example onec some basic house forms are created in tvisualization software it becomes very easy to populate a site area with any number  of houses or to create a versions with different populations.  Two visualizations might reflect two different hypotheses about site population size. Alternatively it is easy to distribute houses across a site in a number of different configurations. One, where small groups of houses cluster, might reflect one view of the community's social organization - one in which smaller groups such as sodalities or kin-based groupings were seen as important.  An alternative distribution might follow from a view of a more homogeneous community social structure and show the houses more uniformly distributed.  In this way alternative visualizations can have some of the properties of an "experiment" where different hypotheses are "tested."  As Colin Renfrew (1997) noted in his introduction to Virtual Archaeology Re-Creating Ancient Worlds "The archaeology of the third millennium will likely be a science with a strong technological element that will enhance out of all proportion our ability to explore, to interpret and to classify, bringing with it a greater and more penetrating ability to reconstruct the past." The use of computer based visualization in the U.S. lags behind European efforts and an easy to use set of resources and tutorials accessible via the WWW will help develop capacity.

Access in the US to tools and skills to develop these third millennium methods are limited and this project is designed to increase this access. There is a massive amount of information available on various computerized 3D techniques but it is not organized or structured in a way that is focused on the needs of the heritage professions. This lack of accessibility it a key constraint to its wide use. In addition to traditional list of resources and sources of software, a central element of the project is to provide detailed tutorials, best-practices, cost evaluations and user information based on comprehensive example projects.