Reconstructing the Landscape of late Eighteenth Century Williamsburg: The Application and Presentation of Levels of Archaeological Data within a Virtual Environment

Summary

Computer generated reconstruction is becoming more embedded in cultural heritage settings. This paper presents the audience with the potential for the presentation of varying levels of archaeological data through digital reconstruction, in particular the immersive environment Virtual Williamsburg. Historical Archaeology collects many diverse sets of data, often at differing resolutions, and these datasets are not always immediately compatible. As part of the Virtual Williamsburg project, these diverse sets of data have been collated into a wider framework, allowing an understanding of the data through contextualized reconstruction. The results have been modeled at varying levels of resolution, from the wide-scale topographic level, down to the level of the individual artifact. The result is Virtual Williamsburg, a digital reconstruction that captures the series of rich and extensive archaeological datasets in a series of highly dynamic pedagogical and academic models. Ultimately these models present the current state of archaeological research in Williamsburg through a virtual interface.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Discovering what Counts in Archaeology and Reconstruction: Lessons from Colonial Williamsburg   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2014

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): SYM-9,06