Video Games, Virtual Reconstructions, and other Digital Avenues to Engage Children of All Ages in a Cosmopolitan Past

Summary

For talented story-tellers, the past can be conjured up and presented through thrilling narrative arcs and vivid imagery. The result can make the listener feel like they are in an ancient place. But the audience listens, with only awe as the result. With expanding digital technologies, the archaeological past can be animated. Students can immerse themselves in reconstructed buildings and landscapes and move through ancient places, examine material culture from multiple angles, and even engage in games that educate on the lives of past peoples. The active learning facilitates innovative interpretations even while stressing the significance of rigorous detail-oriented analysis of archaeological and archival/ethnographic data. Examples come from programs for primary school aged children based on historical archaeology projects on Florida’s Gulf Coast. The digital presentations for the Cuban fishing rancho industry and early nineteen-century marronage offer a past in a part of Florida often assumed to have little or no history. The goal of these digital avenues meets the ethic of communicate archaeological interpretations of the past, introducing children and adults to a cosmopolitan past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Strategic Approaches to Digital Public Archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage