Virtual curation as an integral part of the conservation strategy at the Camp Lawton Confederate POW site

Summary

The Confederate POW facility, Camp Lawton, was constructed in the summer of 1864 to relieve the horrendous conditions at Andersonville. Camp Lawton, a 42-acre stockade housing over 10,000 Union prisoners, was only open during October and November 1864. It was abandoned in late November as Sherman’s men marched towards Savannah. Recent archaeological excavations by Georgia Southern University (GSU) students and faculty located the prisoner encampment. The area includes intact prisoners’ hut features and debris from brick ovens. Hundreds of artifacts have been recovered, most of which need conservation. Many of these artifacts are delicate and require a stable environment for long-term preservation. As part of the curation process, GSU archaeologists are now creating 3D scans of selected artifacts. This process fulfills three goals: 1) creating a more detailed and expanded curation record, 2) enabling researchers around the world access to detailed, scaled 3D models of Civil War-era military artifacts, and 3) providing access to 3D models for the public. By posting a variety of digital formats, including mp4, 3D PDF, and video, we provide several means in which to view, compare, and analyze the material assemblage.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Crowdsourcing, Co-Creation, and Collaboration through Virtual Curation   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage