Archaeological Futures through a Virtual Past

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeological Futures through a Virtual Past" at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This session illustrates the usefulness of 3D and immersive archaeological storytelling strategies for public engagement, collaborative research, and experiential education. Archaeologists are increasingly relying on Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), 3D modeling, video game design, and photogrammetry to preserve and dynamically visualize archaeological contexts, data, and narratives. Through diverse strategies of sensorial engagement, inaccessible contexts and objects become globally available on personal devices or public web-based experiences. This poster session provides innovative examples of the ways in which archaeologists deploy virtual methods to create opportunities for accessible exploration and intimate engagement with material culture and historical landscapes. Session participants will demonstrate the future of archaeological methods through play and experimentation within virtual pasts.