Category Archives: Remediation

Reconstructions & The Power of Technology

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In our discussion of archaeological reconstructions, we found that the major methods for site presentation include the stabilization and preservation of ruins, ghost buildings, and full-scale reconstructions. Each have different elements of site disturbance associated with them.

A method of reconstruction we didn’t discuss was virtual reconstruction. In virtual worlds like Second Life, it is possible to reconstruct a site to full detail. One of the possibilities opened up by virtual reconstruction is the reproduction of large sites where tangible reconstruction would be an impossibility, such as the city of Lisbon.

 

As technology progresses and archaeologists become more tech-savvy, it may be possible to eliminate some of the drawbacks to real-life and virtual reconstruction by combining the two- holograms can be projected at real sites with minimal invasion of the surviving foundations, and tourists will be able to walk through the site without the mediation of a screen.

Remediating Vassar’s Thompson Memorial Library

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The idea behind remediating an image that represents Vassar was to learn basic aspects of photoshop while also applying some concepts of remediation from our class discussion.  I have chosen to take an image of the Thompson Memorial Library in the winter time and overlay some images of Vassar students (some of my friends).  Behind the library you can see Matthew Vassar looming above in the clouds looking over his creation.  The image is my commentary on Vassar student life: students enjoying themselves, getting ready for the spring by dressing like it’s 80 degrees out when it’s really in the 50’s, while also constantly being reminded of the massive amounts of work awaiting them in the library.  I added Matthew Vassar, the ominous being we speak so fondly of as Vassar students, as a tribute to all the glory that is Vassar!

Archaeology Games

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Try your hand at this archaeology game made by the BBC.

The game puts you in the shoes of an archaeologist searching for an ancient burial site with a limited budget and under time pressure from developers. You need to do research at the local records office, take aerial photos of the land, and choose what methods to use in your excavation.

The game is quite unusual, in that it puts CRM archaeology in context and allows the player to see the “big picture” in an archaeology project- that which takes place outside of the actual excavation. I lost the game (and the quarry company destroyed my site) on my first try because I was too slow and careful with digging and went over budget.

In a basic search of online archaeology games out there, you’ll probably find that most aren’t really games at all, but “clickable” animations or quizzes. However, the best educational games (and Hunt the Ancestor only begins to scratch the surface of possibilities here) are immersive and immediate- you learn not by being asked to read facts, but by living a virtual life and having virtual “hands-on” experience. Actually making decisions and dealing with results makes programs like this one much more compelling and therefore better instruments of public archaeology.

Remediating Vassar Imagery

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It’s always fascinated me that VC students take a remarkable amount of pride in the college’s history of academic legitimacy, but have no qualms about re-purposing that history ironically (the Victorian lady trope, e.g.) Cultural legitimacy indeed.

(Feat. Main Building, classy smoking Victorian ladies, the library’s stained glass windows, and a whomp-whomp)