Reflections of the practice of digital archaeology: virtual cultural heritage construction and communication

Abstract

This paper develops reflections on how new digital technologies are evolving and being used as methodological tools in archaeological research. The registration and representation of archaeological materials and sites depend increasingly on these technologies to obtain the best information for knowledge, conservation and value-recognition purposes. In this context, virtual archaeology has provided a professional environment where interdisciplinary professionals converge to apply these tools for research.

According to the definition of the Seville Principles, virtual archaeology aims to investigate and develop forms of application of technology-assisted visualization for the integral management of archaeological heritage. This discipline is still under construction due to a conjunction of approaches, objectives and limitations (Izeta & Cattáneo, 2018).

These technologies include image-creation procedures. They construct a new product which is called virtual heritage. The generated image is understood as a representation, that is, as a product with two articulated dimensions. On the one hand, all virtual representations have the peculiar status of being in the place of something else (an object, a person, a concept); thus, all these representations are the presence of an absence of something. On the other hand, all representations show something: they exhibit their own presence or materiality as an image. This perspective allows us to notice each image's phenomenon or existing condition, insofar as it emphasizes that all representations are materialized thanks to digital solutions. In this sense, it is essential to know that these new laboratory-created images, both make their absent referents (objects in most cases) present, and constitute a new digital/virtual cultural phenomenon (Chartier, 1992). The authors consider that these new images are regarded as a new plausible record to be studied, preserved and communicated.

This work is therefore an interdisciplinary space to think about the contribution of digital methods and techniques in the practice of the authors’ discipline; the documentation, analysis and virtual reconstruction of archaeological material, as well as the integral management of cultural heritage gain efficiency thanks to digital technologies. They also establish a space for reflection on their influence upon archaeological practice, in need of criteria to apply these technologies. The resulting product that can be used for science communication purposes.

This proposal is based on the three goals of the ArqueoLab-UBA Project: cultural heritage research, conservation and communication. From the conservation point of view, the digitization and virtualization of archaeological materials protects non-renewable and fragile resources. Its importance lies in the quality of the information it provides, as by documenting and assisting in objects investigation and preservation, it can be used both to detect, measure and research deterioration over time and to predict patterns. Similarly, it also allows users to document restoration processes (Acevedo, Staropoli, Riera Soto, Soto, Herrera & Rossi, 2020; Jáidar Benavides, López Armenda, Rodríguez Vidal, Villaseñor & Fragoso Calderas, 2017).

Thereby, when applying these technologies, the aim is to generate an appropriate product which can be made known to different publics, on the one hand;  on the other hand, it also focuses on sharing and communicating information in the academic-scientific field through open-access databases and digital repositories. Communication also makes it possible to turn the archaeological object into a virtual heritage product; its materialization in a new digital format includes all intelligible information linked, appropriated and transmissible to the non-academic community. These steps can be understood as a process of user needs identification and satisfaction; the resulting advantages are that archaeological heritage is publicized and valued, while facilitating access to cultural proposals (Acevedo et al. 2020;  Acevedo, Staropoli, Ávido & Vitores, 2021). Investigating, conserving and communicating cultural heritage are much more than tools for preserving information: they are means to guarantee a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to cultural heritage.