Experiencing the past: experiential mediums in digital public archaeology

Ash, Harland James Matthew (2023) Experiencing the past: experiential mediums in digital public archaeology. Masters thesis, Northern Arizona University.

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Abstract

This thesis is a focused approach to the application of virtual reality and multimedia digital archaeology in support of cultural resource managers, to promote increased public engagement and interest in cultural heritage sites. Recent advancements in and increased accessibility to virtual reality equipment provide new opportunities for cultural heritage managers to create experiential media. Public archaeology, phenomenology, and Indigenous futurism are at the core of the design of this program. In a working partnership between Flagstaff Area National Monuments and Northern Arizona University, I produced a virtual reality application of the Walnut Canyon Nine-Room cliff dwelling located at Walnut Canyon National Monument (WACA). The research design consisted of constructing a virtual reality application demo of the Nine-Room Cliff Dwelling. The following phase of research consisted of publicly demonstrating the Nine-Room cliff dwelling VR application. The final aspect of the research consisted of conducting an anonymous electronic survey of the users that participated in the VR application. The intended goal of this survey was to determine the level of engagement each participant had with the application and use these data to inform future research and development in virtual reality archaeological applications. The results of this project produced a virtual reality application demo of the Walnut Canyon National Monument Nine-room cliff dwelling and an evaluation of it. The development and evaluation of the Walnut Canyon Nine-room cliff dwelling virtual reality application serves as a case study of the possibilities of digital archaeology in serving the public.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Publisher’s Statement:	© Copyright is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the Cline Library, Northern Arizona University. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
Keywords:	Anthropology; Archaeology; Digital archaeology; Public archaeology; Virtual reality; Wupatki National Monument (Ariz.) Cliff dwellings;
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GN Anthropology
NAU Depositing Author Academic Status:	Student
Department/Unit:	Graduate College > Theses and Dissertations College of Social and Behavioral Science > Anthropology
Date Deposited:	01 Aug 2023 21:41
Last Modified:	01 Aug 2023 21:41
URI:	https://openknowledge.nau.edu/id/eprint/6080

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