Virtual Worlds: Underwater Archaeology and Indigenous Engagement

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Alpena-Amberley Ridge (AAR) is a landform that is now 100 feet underwater in the Great Lakes – but 10,000 years ago, it was a unique dry land environment. Research on the AAR has documented some of the world’s oldest hunting features including drive lanes and hunting blinds for targeting caribou. To better understand this submerged landform an immersive Virtual World (VW) model was created which includes AI caribou. The project collaborated with traditional caribou hunters from the Native Village of Kotzebue, Alaska, to assess the veracity of the VW model and to gain insight into the logic and placement of the ancient hunting structures. While the VW has helped investigate the prehistoric landscape, the collaboration with Native Alaskans has generated unexpected avenues to explore by incorporating traditional ecological knowledge into models of past environments and hunting behavior. We are now exploring other uses for the VW suggested by our community partners including its use in K-12 classrooms, and as a means of community engagement. This project combines archaeological methods with interdisciplinary science, indigenous voices and community-based approaches.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36637.0