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Avebury Henge is situated approximately 20 miles north of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, U.K. and contains the largest known Neolithic stone circle in Europe. It is part of the Avebury, Stonehenge and Associated Sites World Heritage Site but is less well-known than Stonehenge, despite being an impressive monument with a ditch and bank system more than 400m in diameter. In the past 20 years or so many computer-based simulations of archaeological sites around the world have been created, but many of these digital reconstructions lack both the ability to enable personal presence of the user in the virtual landscape itself, and the facility for users to interact with others and the virtual environment around them in real time. The project described in this paper aims to research the issues of presence and interaction in virtually reconstructed ancient landscapes through a reconstruction of Avebury Henge in a virtual world environment, as it might have been circa 2,300 BCE. This paper describes and evaluates the construction phase of the project in a virtual world environment.

Non-destructive prospection methods provide a powerful toolbox to explore Archaeological Heritage while it is still protected untouched below the actual surface. Due to recent technical developments in high resolution large scale non-invasive archaeological prospection by the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (LBI ArchPro) like motorized multi-channel Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), multi-sensor Magnetometry or Airborne Remote Sensing it became possible to efficently explore square kilometers of archaeological landscapes in high detail. Using a georeferenced Archaeological Information System (AIS) to compare, combine and interpret the archaeological information embedded within prospection and excavation data enable spatio-temporal analyses to derive the cultural development of an archaeological landscape.

The former 25th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities in Greece has long been engaged in the research of medieval fortified architecture and in tailoring of restoration and promotion projects for particular monuments. “Digital Enhancement of Argolid, Arcadia and Corinthia castles” is an ongoing project, currently carried out under the jurisdiction of the newly established Argolid Ephorate of Antiquities. It concerns the creation of an archaeological-centered web-platform and smart-phone application for researchers and public, containing 105 sites of castles, fortified locations and individual towers, scattered within the geographical borders of the aforementioned prefectures. The current essay examines how the documentation methodology leads the visitor to extract comparative scientific data concerning the archaeological sites and fortified architecture in general by presenting what is the platform's contribution to visualizing archaeological space.

The Swedish Pompeii Project started in 2000 as a research and fieldwork activity initiated by the Swedish Institute in Rome. The aim was to record and analyze an entire Pompeian cityblock, Insula V 1. Since autumn 2011 a new branch of advanced digital archaeology, involving 3D reconstructions and documentation methods, was added to the project agenda. The insula was completely digitized using laser scanner technology and the raw data were employed to develop different research activities in the area of digital visualization. This paper presents the recent results of the 3D interpretation of the house of Caecilius Iucundus. This research activity was developed employing a large variety of historical and archaeological sources such as: archaeological reports, historical image documentation (printed as well as in edited material) and analysis of the in situ structures. This work was characterized by the experimentation of a new workflow of data development, where the elaboration of the interpreted structures took place directly in virtual space, using the scanned model as geometrical reference. This method easily connected all the historical and archaeological sources collected for the interpretation, opening a new discussion about different possible interpretation of the house. Moreover, a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) was used in different occasions as platform where the different hypotheses could be discussed in the context given by the actual state of the archaeological structures. The use of an accurate and resolute replica of the site as a backdrop for the virtual reconstruction allowed a high level of control on the proposed hypotheses during the interpretation process. This study enabled the acquisition of new and important information about the house, thus, bringing a significant contribution to the archaeological analysis of Insula V 1, suggested as pilot project for wider use.

The West Digital Conservatory of Archaeological Heritage project, a.k.a. WDCAH, is a new French research organization whose aim is to both ensure the preservation of digital archaeological data, and deliver expertise in production, analysis, visualization and virtual reality exploration techniques. This project is an interdisciplinary project composed of engineers and researchers in archaeology, computer science, virtual reality and 3D interaction with virtual environments. The major objectives of this conservatory project are: (i) sustainable and centralized safeguarding and archiving of 2D/3D data produced by the archaeological community; (ii) free access to metadata; (iii) secure access to data for the different actors involved in scientific projects and (iv) the support and advice for these actors in the 3D data production and exploration through the latest digital technologies, modeling tools and virtual reality systems. This paper focuses on the first activities of the WDCAH which mainly concern digital models production using photogrammetry, 3D laser scans, and 3D computer graphics software. We are currently working on the reconstitution of six archaeological sites located in the west of France ranging from prehistory to the Middle Ages: the Cairn of Carn Island, the covered pathway of Roh Coh Coet, the Goh Min Ru megalithic site, the gallo-roman mansion of Vanesia, the keep of the Chateau de Sainte-Suzanne, the Porte des Champs of the Chateau d'Angers. Other proposals are currently under study.

The development of virtual models applied to heritage interpretation often aim for the understandable images of the past. In this sense, virtual archaeology is an educational tool that has a significant potential. However, virtual reconstructions of the past also could distort, offering images of the reality they interpret, which are believable, but often false. The confusion in the current state of knowledge regarding to the concepts implemented in the interventions on site and the production of virtual images requires raising terminological clarifications, defining all of the possible operations in the archaeological heritage: reconstruction, restitution, recreation, interpretation, simulation and rehabilitation. On the other hand, from the point of view of the current educational research, offering images of the past without approaching the methods that will lead to its development, does not provide any scientific knowledge. Thus, historical reconstruction without any method could become a factory of “myths”. For this reason, we believe that the virtual archaeology and any approach based on digital techniques should take into consideration the following items: Providing methodological tools for users to know how the knowledge has been acquired, providing different hypothesis that exist about the past, helping to develop critical thinking, and providing images of the past. To illustrate the above goals we provide a case study based on this theoretical argumentation. It is about the study of the archaeological site of the Iberian Citadel of Calafell, where it was possible to contrast archaeological research on site with iconographic research generated by digital models. The archaeological site is the only archaeological Protohistoric site on Iberian Peninsula, which has been restituted by experimental a

The ignorance or the mis-knowledge of the archaeological background of a modern city can affect its economy and cultural growth, limiting attractivity and spreading erroneous or distorted messages over media. The case of Syracuse (Sicily, Italy) is emblematic. Founded by the Corinthians in 733 BC, birthplace of poets and thinkers as Epicharmus and Archimedes, visited by many prominent figures of Greek culture as Pindar, Aeschylus and Plato, Syracuse over centuries became one of the most beautiful, influential and wealthy among the Greek cities of the Mediterranean basin, as the majestic temples testified. Nonetheless, regardless the historical background and the imposing visible remains of that past emerging everywhere in the actual urban area, Syracuse, since 2005 World Heritage site, has never played the role of quintessential archetype of Greek city both in the scientific literature and the mainstream. Against this scenario a proper action of historical revisionism over all the media should be undertake for restoring the neglected heritage of ancient Syracuse. A starting point is represented by a virtual archaeology project, undertook by a team of scholars of IBAM-CNR and Arcadia University-TCGS, aimed to the overall digital reconstruction of Ortigia, the core district of the Greek Syracuse, and to the production of a 3D documentary entitled `Siracusa 3D reborn', that represents a pivotal advance in the knowledge of the Greek background of the city in terms of communication. This paper aims to present the frame of open issues related to knowledge, local perception, presentation to public and interpretation of the Greek heritage of Syracuse and to explain how the `Siracusa 3D reborn' can give a significant contribution to start up new developmental policies.

The traditional approach for understanding an archaeological site, mainly focused on excavations and stratigraphic examination of findings through the archaeological analysis, is still the main way for hypothesizing its most probable interpretation. As demonstrated in several case studies 3D digital acquisition techniques may greatly help for applications such as site and findings documentation, digital stratigraphy, 3D GIS or virtual interaction between experts. In addition, an accurate geometrical representation in digital form may be used, once integrated by archaeological considerations, as a starting point for creating virtual reconstructions of the site, embedding the most probable hypotheses. However, this last step might be critical for a apparently trivial reason: with very few exceptions the archaeological skill for interpreting some ruins and the technological skill for 3D modeling the corresponding site reconstruction are owned by different individuals or group of scholars. The aim of this paper is to describe a widespread 3D documentation of a site and a possible reconstruction process step by step, starting from a laser scan survey and a set of historical documents, focusing on a reasonable multi-disciplinary concurrent interaction to reach the best virtual reconstruction solutions. This path may help both archaeologists to better focus their thoughts through a detailed visual representation, and the technological experts to avoid misleading details in the final virtual reconstruction. The case study regards a group of Cham temples located in the My Son site, an UNESCO archeological area in Vietnam.

On the eve of the great earthquake of 1st November 1755, Lisbon was one of the most populated cities in Europe, a major sea port, international trading station and the political heart of an empire that extended from India to Brazil. Portrayed by some travellers and foreign residents as a mixture of abject misery, extreme religious devotion and baroque opulence and extravagance, the old Lisbon became a mythical city for 18th century Europeans while for the Portuguese it has remained so until today. After the catastrophe, Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo (b. 1699 – d.1782), the minister to King D. Jose (1750 – 1777, b. 1714) and future Marquis of Pombal, with the vital assistance of Portuguese military engineers, built a city with a regular layout arranged in uniform blocks. The old Lisbon with its particular morphological and social characteristics disappeared. The aim of this project is to use Second Life® technology to recreate the Lisbon destroyed by the 1755 earthquake and on which the Lisbon planned by the military engineers Eugenio dos Santos and Carlos Mardel was built. It therefore consists of collaboration between two scientific approaches – historic and virtual language — thereby allowing the visualization of a memory. Using written documentation and iconography found in archives and national museums, we propose to reconstitute the city, including not only the urban design but also the architectonic fabric of the whole and the interiors of the most noteworthy buildings, such as the Royal Palace in Terreiro do Paco (Palace Courtyard), the Patriarchal See, the Opera House, the Corpus Christi Convent and the All Saints Hospital. This re-creation will include an audio component that provides the background noise of city-dwellers, as well as performances of the opera and other noteworthy events of Lisbon of the time. It will be complemented by small texts giving the historical context. It thus strives to recreate the spatial, architectural, social and cultural dimensions of Lisbon in the early 18th century.

The approach of modern archaeology to the study of the evolution of ancient human societies is based on the acquisition and analysis of many types of data. It is well known that in archaeology large use is done of digital technologies and computer applications for data acquisition, storage, analysis and visualization. The amount of information coming from remote sensing, from acquisition of 3D artifacts images by scanners laser, from GPS precise reference of geographical points and from other sciences are increasing at a large extent the amount of data that it need to be stored and made available for analysis. Such data must, however, be analyzed if they are to become valuable information and knowledge. The data analysis use advanced methods developed in mathematics, informatics, and physics and in other natural and human sciences. Moreover the use of virtual archaeology as a new approach to the narration and visualization in archaeology, is expanding rapidly, not only in the museum and archaeology professions, but also in the broadcast media, tourism and heritage industries. The inevitable result of this is an exponential increase of the amount and complexity of information that must be acquired, transferred, stored, processed and analyzed. From another side natural disasters, wars and terrorism created enormous damages to the archaeological heritage and in many case destroyed definitively all information about ancient civilizations. It is urgent a long term project for acquiring at least the archaeological information.

It is well known that in Archaeology large use is done of digital technologies and computer applications for data acquisition, storage, analysis and visualisation. In the last years the amount of information coming from remote sensing. from precise and fast acquisition of 3-D artefacts images by scanners laser, from GPS precise reference of geographical points and from other human and natural sciences are increasing at a large extent the amount of data that it need to be stored and made available for analysis. Moreover the use of Virtual Archaeology as a new approach to the narration and visualisation in Archaeology, is expanding rapidly, not only in the museum and archaeology professions, but also in the broadcast media, tourism and heritage industries. From another side recent natural and social disasters (wars) created enormous damages to the archaeological heritage and in many case destroyed definitively any information about ancient civilisations. It is urgent a longterm project for saving archaeological information for the present and next generations. The GRID technology developed by the CERN for the next experiments at LHC can be used for such project. The paper try to show what can be used by the present GRID technology and what could he modified to approach the specificity of the archaeological.