Visualizing the past: Developing tools to facilitate accurate and immer Grace Sommers
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-12-08

When digitally reconstructing a historic structure in 3D, a practitioner needs access to a diverse knowledge base. A practitioner should know what types of structures and structural elements were being built in a specific time and region, what types of construction materials were available, what the physical limitations of these materials were, what primary sources said about the use of these materials, what modern secondary sources say about these materials, how prevalent this material was in that area, etc. The objective of this research was to develop a tool that brings these heterogenous datasets together and makes this broad base of knowledge accessible to a diverse range of potential 3D modelers. To do so we examined what types of data it would be necessary to include within such a tool, developed a backend schema for cloud-storage of the large amounts of data, and designed a user-friendly interface. This free and open-source tool was tested as a part of a new class taught this year at Princeton University—Holistic Analysis of Heritage Structures—where the final project was for groups of archaeology, civil engineering, architecture, and history students to digitally reconstruct historic structures. The 3D models generated using this tool will be shown and discussed. Additionally, insights gained during the process of creating and testing the new tool will be shared as well as considerations about future tools that could augment the current processes for widening the pool of those able to develop immersive techniques for archaeology.

Full title: Visualizing the past: Developing tools to facilitate accurate and immersive experiences in archaeology

(Grace Sommers, Rebecca Napolitano, Hannah Smagh, Sophia Feist, Branko Glisic)