Digital Arcaheology of Death and Burial : Using 3D Reconstruction, Visualization and Simulation to Frame Past Experience

• The study of burials has a long and important history in archaeology. The analysis of the human remains, the burial feature, and the artefacts placed with the dead, has been crucial for the development of archaeological theory and interpretation, from the establishments of the first chronologies in the 19th century to complex issues in contemporary archaeology. The archaeological study of burials has always drawn on multiple disciplines, methods and theories, including, but not limited to, biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, ritual theory, social theory, molecular biology, taphonomy, chemistry, etc.  Through the physical remains of the dead, archaeologists access information about the demography and health status of a population, including disabilities, level of care, infectious diseases, physical activity, and mortality profiles. These remains can also provide molecular information about kinship, migration and diet. The grave structure itself and the material items found with the dead allow archaeologists to propose interpretations of cultural practices relating to identities (including gender and age), the ritual response to death, social organization, and even dimensions of emotion and belief in the past. Today we see an emerging archaeology of death that through transdisciplinary approaches, i.e. an archaeology that combines theses complex approaches not only in the analysis, but also in the very research design, aims at reconstructing the response to death in the past and place it within a complex cultural context (Nilsson Stutz 2016). We believe that digital approaches have a central role to play in these developments.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Historia och arkeologi -- Arkeologi (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- History and Archaeology -- Archaeology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

archaeology

burial

reconstruction

arcaheothantology

simulation

Archaeology

Arkeologi

Informations- och programvisualisering

Information and software visualization

Archaeology

Arkeologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

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