Virtual Archaeology, Virtual Longhouses and "Envisioning the Unseen" Within the Archaeological Record

Abstract

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.

Animating Past Worlds

“…The DCH-making process is a wayfaring path (Ingold 2011). The tools, the material, the available data and knowledge, the moment in time, and one's skill all contribute to the construction of new knowledge and with that, a (re)visioning of the ancient past (Carter 2017c). Recent examples of 3D DCH production and research demonstrate a shift towards a professional theoretically and creatively grounded practice.…”