A Virtual Reality Platform for Analyzing Remote Archaeological Sites

This paper describes a virtual reality prototype developed to help archaeologists and other stakeholders explore and analyse archaeological data in a more immersive context. We describe a VR reconstruction of Pleito Cave, a fragile world class rock art site with accessibility limitation. Key stakeholders are identified and a prototype is described that provides a VR platform for visualising and interacting with complex archaeological data (gathered from techniques such as decorrelation stretch and x-ray fluorescence) virtually ‘in situ’, in a way that would not be possible at the real site. The prototype allows multiple remote users to interact with the cave together simultaneously providing opportunities for collaborative interpretation and analysis of archaeological data.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Brendan Cassidy

Gavin Sim

David Wayne Robinson

Devlin Gandy

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-5

Affiliations

[0001]Department of Computing

University of Central Lancashire

Preston, UK. PR1 2HE

[0002]Department of Archaeology

University of Central Lancashire

Preston, UK. PR1, 2HE

[0003]Department of Archaeology

University of Cambridge

Cambridge, UK. CB2 3DZ

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.171

SO-VID: a424920d-41a3-46d6-b596-21102745e3e3

License:

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.171

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

REFERENCES

H. Ball 2018 The Virtual Reality Toolkit http://vrtoolkit.readme.io/ (retrieved 15/05/2018)
S.G. BarsantiG. CarusoL.L. MicoliM.C. RodriguezG. Guidi 2015 3D visualization of cultural heritage artefacts with virtual reality devices The International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 40 5 165
C. BedfordD. Gandy & DW. Robinson 2018 Emigdiano Blues: the California indigenous pigment palette and an in situ analysis of an exotic colour Journal of Open Archaeology 4 152 172
C. BedfordD. RobinsonJ. PerryM. BakerJ. MilesE. KotoulaD. GandyJ. Bernard 2016 Unravelling the Gordian Knot: Combining Technologies to Analyse Rock Art in Pleito Cave Society for California Archaeology Proceedings 30 183 195
M.K. BekeleR. PierdiccaE. FrontoniE.S Malinverni & J. Gain 2018 A Survey of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality for Cultural Heritage J. Comput. Cult. Herit. 11, 2, Article 7 March 2018 36
CassidyB RobinsonD & GandyD. 2018 Accessing the inaccessible: Valuing Virtual Reality and remote access to Pleito Cave
Presentation at the Society for American Archaeology Association 83rd Annual Meeting Washington D.C
D. GandyD. Robinson 2018 The Gordian Knot: Novel Methods for Digitally Identifying, Defining, and Separating Unique Rock Art Elements Presentation at the Society for American Archaeology Association 83rd Annual Meeting Washington D.C
J. Harman 2006 A tool for the digital enhancement of pictographs http://www.dstretch.com/ (retrieved 15/05/2018)
W. Hürst, De F. Coninck, & XJ Tan 2016 Complementing Artworks to Create Immersive VR Museum Experiences In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE ’16) ACM New York, NY, USA 6
E. KotoulaDW Robinson & C. Bedford 2018 Interactive Relighting, Digital Enhancement and Inclusive Diagrammatic Representations for the Analysis of Rock Art Superimposition: the Main Pleito Cave (CA, USA) Journal of Archaeological Science 93 26 41
L. LiJ. Zhou 2016 Virtual reality technology based developmental designs of multiplayer-interaction-supporting exhibits of science museums: taking the exhibit of “virtual experience on an aircraft carrier”, in China science and technology museum as an example In Proceedings of the 15th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry - Volume 1 (VRCAI ’16) 1 ACM New York, NY, USA 409 412
DW RobinsonMJ BakerC BedfordJ. PerryM. WienholdJ BernardD Reeves E KotoulaD. Gandy, & J. Miles 2015 Methodological Considerations of Integrating Portable Digital Technologies in the Analysis and Management of Complex Superimposed Californian Pictographs: from Spectroscopy and Spectral Imaging to 3- D scanning Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 2 2-3 166 180
G. SimB. CassidyJ.C. Read 2018 Crowdsourcing Ideas for Augmented Reality Museum Experiences with Children In Museum Experience Design 75 93 Springer Cham
LK Yip ChanS. Kenderdine, & J. Shaw 2013 Spatial user interface for experiencing Mogao caves In Proceedings of the 1st symposium on Spatial user interaction (SUI ’13) ACM New York, NY, USA 21 24

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] H. Ball 2018 The Virtual Reality Toolkit http://vrtoolkit.readme.io/ (retrieved 15/05/2018)

[2] S.G. BarsantiG. CarusoL.L. MicoliM.C. RodriguezG. Guidi 2015 3D visualization of cultural heritage artefacts with virtual reality devices The International Archives of Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 40 5 165

[3] C. BedfordD. Gandy & DW. Robinson 2018 Emigdiano Blues: the California indigenous pigment palette and an in situ analysis of an exotic colour Journal of Open Archaeology 4 152 172

[4] C. BedfordD. RobinsonJ. PerryM. BakerJ. MilesE. KotoulaD. GandyJ. Bernard 2016 Unravelling the Gordian Knot: Combining Technologies to Analyse Rock Art in Pleito Cave Society for California Archaeology Proceedings 30 183 195

[5] M.K. BekeleR. PierdiccaE. FrontoniE.S Malinverni & J. Gain 2018 A Survey of Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality for Cultural Heritage J. Comput. Cult. Herit. 11, 2, Article 7 March 2018 36

[6] CassidyB RobinsonD & GandyD. 2018 Accessing the inaccessible: Valuing Virtual Reality and remote access to Pleito Cave

[7] Presentation at the Society for American Archaeology Association 83rd Annual Meeting Washington D.C

[8] D. GandyD. Robinson 2018 The Gordian Knot: Novel Methods for Digitally Identifying, Defining, and Separating Unique Rock Art Elements Presentation at the Society for American Archaeology Association 83rd Annual Meeting Washington D.C

[9] J. Harman 2006 A tool for the digital enhancement of pictographs http://www.dstretch.com/ (retrieved 15/05/2018)

[10] W. Hürst, De F. Coninck, & XJ Tan 2016 Complementing Artworks to Create Immersive VR Museum Experiences In Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE ’16) ACM New York, NY, USA 6

[11] E. KotoulaDW Robinson & C. Bedford 2018 Interactive Relighting, Digital Enhancement and Inclusive Diagrammatic Representations for the Analysis of Rock Art Superimposition: the Main Pleito Cave (CA, USA) Journal of Archaeological Science 93 26 41

[12] L. LiJ. Zhou 2016 Virtual reality technology based developmental designs of multiplayer-interaction-supporting exhibits of science museums: taking the exhibit of “virtual experience on an aircraft carrier”, in China science and technology museum as an example In Proceedings of the 15th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry - Volume 1 (VRCAI ’16) 1 ACM New York, NY, USA 409 412

[13] DW RobinsonMJ BakerC BedfordJ. PerryM. WienholdJ BernardD Reeves E KotoulaD. Gandy, & J. Miles 2015 Methodological Considerations of Integrating Portable Digital Technologies in the Analysis and Management of Complex Superimposed Californian Pictographs: from Spectroscopy and Spectral Imaging to 3- D scanning Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage 2 2-3 166 180

[14] G. SimB. CassidyJ.C. Read 2018 Crowdsourcing Ideas for Augmented Reality Museum Experiences with Children In Museum Experience Design 75 93 Springer Cham

[15] LK Yip ChanS. Kenderdine, & J. Shaw 2013 Spatial user interface for experiencing Mogao caves In Proceedings of the 1st symposium on Spatial user interaction (SUI ’13) ACM New York, NY, USA 21 24

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