The Virtual Heritage Interpretation and Interactive methods for the Presentation of Archaeological Heritage

This report is devoted to new tendencies and possibilities for interpretation and presentation of archaeo-logical heritage, which appeared due to the fast development and wide application of modern computer technologies.The introduction gives the general review and history of the term «Interpretation and presentation of the Cultural Heritage». Then the author speak about a new stage in the development of this field, when new technical advances allow us to speak about a new type of presentation of cultural heritage with the help of «Nomadic Museography» that is the display and the story about cultural monuments with the use of the new computer applications, which have been originally created for the technical purposes and are now used in various fields.New possibilities of computer applications for creation of virtual routes on open archaeological sites are described on the example of the computer interpretation of theArchaeological Park located in Catalonia (Spain). For understanding of the project the detailed description of its creation, process and the organi-zation of work on the project by two groups of experts (museologists and architects) are given. The article also considers the main ideas the project. In the conclusion of the article the importance of the innovative technology for interpretation and presentation of cultural heritage is emphasized. New possibilities of this technology, which also can be applied in virtual reconstruction of archaeological monuments, are also dis-cussed in the article.Key words: heritage interpretation, museum presentation, new computer technologies, archaelo-gical park, nomadic museography

Most part of the world cultural heritage, which is known by humanity, is situated in open air. The Archeological sites, ar-cheological parks and archeological structures belong to one group and have specific characteristics for presentation to the public and its preservation. Several factors like climatic conditions, historical events and social-political changes defined their current structure, in most cases presented in the form of ruins. From the point of view of heritage education, the per-ceptions of the historic archeological structures in open spaces cause difficulties to imagine an archeological site. This is so because a great part of archeological monuments was constructed many years ago and their designs are very different from today. Also many people don´t have enough knowledge to interpret the information of historical monuments. These factors create problems to establish efficient communication between the public and the archeological sites (Santacana and Hernan-dez 2007).The first scientist who intended to enhance understanding of the natural and cultural phenomena was Freeman Tilden. He introduced and define the concept of the Heritage Interpretation in his book (Tilden 1957), describing it by these words: “Heritage interpretation is an educational activity which aims to reveal meanings and relationships through the use of origi-nal objects, by firsthand experience, and by illustrative media, rather than simply to communicate factual information”. His principals were developed by other outstanding professionals and were widely applied in many archeological and natural parks of Europe.

В сообщении речь идет о новых тенденциях и возможностях, открывающихся для интерпретации и презентации археологического наследия, благодаря быстрому развитию и широкому применению современных компьютерных технологий.Во введении статьи дается общий обзор и история появления термина «Интерпретация и презентация Культурного Наследия». Далее речь идет о новом этапе в развитии этой области, когда с появлением новых технических возможностей становится возможным говорить о новым типе представления культурного наследия с помощью «Кочевой Музеографии» - то есть показа и рассказа о культурных памятниках с использованием новых компьютерныхприложений, первоначально созданных для технических целей и в настоящее время получивших самое различное применение. Представленная технология имеет ряд преимуществ и открывает новые возможности для интерпретации археологических памятников в виртуальном пространстве. Ее главным преимуществом является интуитивный дисплей, с помощью которого посетитель получает интерактивную информацию об археологических объектах в реальном времени, при этом, не создавая никакого средового воздействия на археологический памятник.На примере компьютерной Интерпретации конкретного Археологического Парка, расположенного в Каталонии (Испания), рассматриваются новые возможности применения компьютерных приложений для создания виртуальных маршрутов на открытых археологических площадках. Для понимания проекта дается подробное описание истории его создания, процесса и организации работы над проектом между двумя группами специалистов - музееведов и архитекторов, рассказывается об основных идеях и предложениях проекта. В заключение статьи подчеркивается важность приведенного инновационного решения для области Интерпретации и Представления культурного наследия, рассказывается о новых возможностях данной технологии, которые также могут быть применены в виртуальныхреконструкциях археологических памятников.Ключевые слова: интерпретация культурного памятника, музейная презентация, новые компьютерные технологии, археологический парк, кочевая музеография.

Irina GREVTSOVAPostgraduate student, department Teaching of Social Studies and Heritage,University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

The First International Conference «Virtual Archaeology-2012» «Первая Международная конференции «Виртуальная археология-2012»

The State Hermitage Museum, Saint-Petersburg (Russian Federation)

Resumen

Introduction

The pilot project of musealization of the Archeological Park of the Castle of Calafell

Innovation proposal - application of the Virtual Interpretation

Conclusions

For the first time the approbation of the new possibilities of new technologies and the use of nomad artifacts were introdu-ced in the project “The musealization of the Archeological Park of the Castle of Calafell” situated in Catalonia, an Autono-mous region in Spain. This project was investigated during its execution between January - April 2011 as a Research Master Thesis (Grevtsova, 2010).The project, along its long history has gone through 3 main phases, commissioned by the city council. The first one began in 1982 and lasted for 4 years, when an archeological excavation and the restoration of the castle of Calafell were executed. It was done by a group of archeologists, managed by Joan Santacana, whose experience was documented in a series of publica-tions.The poject was realized with the close collaboration of two professional groups: the research group of the University of Bar-celona DIDPATRI (Didactic of Heritage, Comprehensive Museography and New Technologies heritage and Education) and the BCQ architectural studio

Virtual Heritage Interpretation refers to a vast range of digital contents designed to communicate messages, which through emotional and intelligent experience intend to stimulate public interest and heighten understanding of cultural and natural heritage.The main idea of the project is to present The Castle and the medieval quarter of Calafell which formed a unique Archeolo-gical park, as a living structure, where daily life and activities of citizens should combined with the conservation of heritage structures. The heritage park was designed as an open concept, where the visitor could walk like in any other neighborhood in the city. In the project 3 principal actions were proposed basically: • Arrangementofcirculationandofthearchitecturalelementsandmaterialsofmedievalarchaeologicalcomplex.• Improvementoftheexistingprojectwithinstallationsofnewinteractivesignswithdidacticcontents.• Designinteractiveresourcesofnomadicmuseography.The project places special emphasis on nomadic museography elements. The use of nomadic museography based on a vir-tual support, which allow a visitor more dynamic interaction and use of different didactic contents on a site. That kind of tours require the installation of a small application created specifically for these mobile systems.With the use of mobile devices, a visitor locates and identifies points of heritage interest directly in a cultural site. To access the information special information terminals were designed, which are situated in the whole Archeological Park. Then with installation of a mobile application the user can access additional information about the site. Thanks to intuitive dis-play and interactive interface, a visitor can use additional tools and choose different interesting options to discover more information.The main advantage of use of virtual systems in archeology heritage site is that it allows establishing an understandable communication between the visitor and heritage environments. Their mobile devices allow free use and a better movement

The Archeological Park of Calafell represents the classical model of presentation of the archeological sites. Situated in the context of Calafell city it is made of a complex range of issues concerning its preservation and presentation. Earlier inter-pretive proposals havenґt completely corresponded to the features of the site. The use of new technologies can provide more efficient interpretation and enhance public appreciation of the site. The application of information technologies has a range of advantages such as communication the significance of the archeological site without physical impact on the site, possibi-lities to create interpretive contents with easy access to additional information. The mobile artifacts establish fast and easy communication with the user and provide an important source of information about the significance of the archeological site. The reviewed propose for the “Interpretation of the Archeological Park of Calafell” is a pilot project in Spain. We are convin-ced of its widespread use in the near future with regard of the interpretation of archaeological sites, architectural complex, historic part of cities and natural landscape. The propose of nomadic museography is based on the documentary sources represented by text and graphics materials could be combined with three-dimensional reconstructions of archeological parks that allowing to create a very efficient educational model with great possibilities of stimulating the interest of the general public and making a better understan-ding of archaeological heritage sites.

New tendencies in Heritage Interpretation: “Nomadic Museography”

With the rapid development of new information technologies and changes in cultural dynamics of contemporary society and access to information databases, the interpretative methods of the cultural heritage need to adapt to new processes and find new proposals, which could correspond to the interests and cultural needs of information society. The first step in this direction was the introduction of a new term in the field of presentation of cultural heritage. It was named “Nomadic museography” and was introduced by the authors Santacana and Coma in the book “Educating city” (Santacana and Coma 2010). The mini nomadic devices allow consulting the most diverse educational contents for providing understandable di-fferent heritage elements. Computer reality and access to In-ternet give a great range of possibilities to acquire knowledge and serve as the main resource to make a consulting about any object wherever we are situated.

The location of the Archaeological Park at the Santa Cruz Castle, Calafell, Catalunya

The conceptual scheme of nomadic museography system applied in Archeological park, Calafell, Catalonia

Аннотация