The Ostra Collecting Station Site: A Virtual Reconstruction

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Virtual reality is a tool that can be used to enhance archeological analyses. My research explores using excavation data to develop a 3D immersive and interactive simulated environment representative of an archaeological site. Incorporating virtual reality in site analyses provides an interface where data can be used to test various hypotheses and can be continuously updated and modified as new or additional data become available. The Ostra Collecting Station, a mid-Holocene site located in northern Peru, has been an excellent example for this type of technological exploration. The site sits on top of a sea-cliff where the ancient shoreline is visible adjacent to the site limiting accessibility to three directions (from the north, east, or south); however, the present-day shoreline is located 5km to the west, leaving the site with the appearance of being surrounded by desert and accessible from all four directions. The use of virtual reality can allow archaeologists to visualize site data with geographic context, site development, and the transition to abandonment much more effectively than when using traditional 2D representations alone.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33416