Laconia Acropolis Virtual Archaeology (LAVA) Project

Laconia Acropolis Virtual Archaeology (LAVA) Project

Intangible Heritage

The Laconia Acropolis Virtual Archaeology project (LAVA) is a cooperative archaeological learning environment developed to address the need for students to be able to engage with realistic archaeological excavation scenarios. The practice of fieldwork lies at the heart of archaeology, yet poses particular problems for the learning of the subject. The opportunities for students to gain real-world fieldwork experience are limited. Even when available, the roles that students can play, and responsibilities that they can take, are constrained. The system helps students collaborate in exploring virtual archaeological excavations and facilitates their construction of an improved understanding of the subject.

reconstructions

2008

image/png

Reconstruction

206

In Copyright (InC)

current,37.07517296842975,22.429029557944038;

https://www.openvirtualworlds.org/projects/lava-project/

https://www.openvirtualworlds.org/projects/lava-project/

Open Virtual Worlds Team University of St Andrews

TEXT

A digital landscape was created using survey data and height map. Models were created in 3D modelling programs and imported into OpenSim (an online, opensource, cross-platform, 3D multi-user virtual environment). The models were then scaled, orientated and assembled. The landscapes were populated with flora and fauna.

The collaborative fieldwork undertaken at the Acropolis Basilica, Sparta, has shown it to have been architecturally innovative for its time; particularly because of the evidence of the dome located over the bema area. Other features, such as the centrally located ambo and the triple apse arrangement make the Basilica unusual, although not unique. Moreover, the nature of the position of the Basilica in Lakedaemonia and the Byzantine Empire was unknown. To understand the monument within this broader context, it is necessary to evaluate the results of the 2000 and 2001 fieldwork seasons in tandem with analyses of other such buildings in the Byzantine world. --- ‘Acropolis Basilica, Sparta: the broader research issues’ Rebecca Jane Sweetman, University of St Andrews.

Dr Rebecca Sweetman (University of St Andrews)

Sarah Kennedy, Iain Oliver, Alan Miller

550