Visualizing Jamestown’s 1617 Church: Creating a 3D Model of the Site of the First General Assembly

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

3D modeling, an effective tool for envisioning historical sites, has been used to visualize the interior and exterior of Jamestown’s 1617 church, where the first General Assembly was held form July 30 to August 4, 1619. The digital and archaeological teams have worked together to “re-build” the church virtually based upon the excavation data, historical sources, and comparative analysis of surviving 17th-century English churches. The 3D model has helped the team not only to better understand the building’s layout and construction but is also serving as an educational tool enabling visitors to “see” for the first time in 400 years where this significant historical event took place. The visualizations of the church are being incorporated into on-site and online materials and will eventually become part of the larger Virtual Fort project, an initiative that will show how the site changed over time.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology.   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 473