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Abstract:The initial construction of a digital virtual object is the three-dimensional (3D) point. Using the notions of making, wayfaring, meshwork and agency, this discussion focuses on Ingold's (2011) theoretical approach to these comments as a means for the construction of archaeological knowledge as applied to the 3D virtual landscape. It will demonstrate that 3D points, whether constructed or captured, can be considered to be agents within an actor network, have agency and are subject to memory and loss within the digital archaeological record. By their interconnections they become a meshwork that can exchange and retain unique attributes of materiality. As such, they challenge our notions of meaningmaking beyond the rote actions of visualizing within archaeology to a form that is more theoretically deeper. By viewing the construction and capture and the production of 3D or 2D visual data through a different lens but within theoretical archaeological terms, we can begin to understand our role in the creation of meaning within virtual archaeology.Key words: virtual archaeology, digital archaeology, 3D modelling, making, wayfaring, agency Resumen:La construcción inicial de un objeto digital y virtual es el punto tridimensional (3D). La discusión en el uso de la noción de fabricación, expedición, malla y agencia, se centra en el enfoque teórico de Ingold (2011) y en estos comentarios como un medio para la construcción del conocimiento arqueológico aplicado al paisaje virtual en 3D. Se demostrará que los puntos 3D, ya sean construidos o capturados, pueden ser considerados como agentes dentro de una red de actores, que tienen agencia y están sujetos a la memoria y a la pérdida dentro del registro arqueológico digital. Por sus interconexiones, se convierten en una malla que puede intercambiar y conservar los atributos únicos de importancia relativa. Como tal, desafían nuestras nociones de significado de decisiones más allá de las acciones rutinarias de visualizar dentro de la arqueología una forma más teórica y más profunda. Al ver la captura y la producción de datos visuales 3D o 2D a través de una óptica diferente, pero dentro de los términos teóricos arqueológicos, podemos empezar a entender nuestro papel en la creación de significado dentro de la arqueología virtual.Palabras clave: arqueología virtual, arqueología digital, modelado en 3D, fabricación, expedición, agencia

We are of an era in which digital technology now enhances the method and practice of archaeology. In our rush to embrace these technological advances however, Virtual Archaeology has become a practice to visualize the archaeological record, yet it is still searching for its methodological and theoretical base. I submit that Virtual Archaeology is the digital making and interrogating of the archaeological unknown. By wayfaring means, through the synergy of the maker, digital tools and material, archaeologists make meaning of the archaeological record by engaging the known archaeological data with the crafting of new knowledge by multimodal reflection and the tacking and cabling of archaeological knowledge within the virtual space. This paper addresses through the 3D (re)imagination of a 16th century pre-contact Iroquoian longhouse, by community paradata blogging and participatory research, how archaeologists negotiate meaningmaking through the use of presence and phenomenology while also addressing the foundations of the London Charter: namely agency, authority, authenticity and transparency when virtually representing constructed archaeological knowledge. Through the use of Ontario Late Woodland longhouse excavation archaeological data, archaeological literature, historical accounts and linguistic research in combination with 3D animation and visual effects production methodologies, and engaging this mental construction made real in virtual reality by deploying these assets in a real-time gaming and head mounted immersive digital platform, archaeologists can interact, visualize and interrogate archaeological norms, constructs and notions. I advocate that by using Virtual Archaeology, archaeologists build meaning by making within 3D space, and by deploying these 3D assets within a real-time, immersive platform they are able to readily negotiate the past in the present.

Archaeological practice is increasingly enacted within pervasive and invisible digital infrastructures, tools, and services that affect how participants engage in learning and fieldwork, and how evidence, knowledge, and expertise are produced. This article discusses the collective imaginings regarding the present and future of digital archaeological practice held by researchers working in two archaeological projects in the Eastern Mediterranean, who have normalized the use of digital tools and the adoption of digital processes in their studies. It is a part of E-CURATORS, a research project investigating how archaeologists in multiple contexts and settings incorporate pervasive digital technologies in their studies. Based on an analysis of qualitative interviews, we interpret the arguments advanced by study participants on aspects of digital work, learning, and expertise. We find that, in their sayings, participants not only characterize digital tools and workflows as having positive instrumental value, but also recognize that they may severely constrain the autonomy and agency of researchers as knowledge workers through the hyper-granularization of data, the erosion of expertise, and the mechanization of work. Participants advance a notion of digital archaeology based on do-it-yourself (DIY) practice and craft to reclaim agency from the algorithmic power of digital technology and to establish fluid, positional distribution of roles and agency, and mutual validation of expertise. Operating within discourses of labour vs efficiency, and technocracy vs agency, sayings, elicited within the archaeological situated practice in the wild, become doings, echoing archaeology’s anxiety in the face of pervasive digital technology.

Creating ‘past worlds’ is more than just creative flair or technical wizardry, it is the distillation of grounded heritage interpretation and reflection as applied to the creative (re)visualization of ancient peoples and landscapes. Be it the digital dinosaurs of Jurassic Park or the fake placement of lifelike digital actors seamlessly inserted within media, virtual heritage is increasingly caught between the praxis of the visual enchantment of feature film and television visual effects (VFX), the increasing visual and phenomenological immersive worlds of 3D, virtual games and the hyper-reality of deep fake VFX. This chapter will provide the basics of animation, while at the same time introducing the reader to the concepts of virtual archaeology and digital cultural heritage from a digital visualization perspective.