OTHER EYES: Understanding the past through bioarchaeology and digital media

“唯一真正的发现之旅，永恒青春的唯一喷泉，不是去探访陌生的土地，而是拥有另一只眼睛，通过另一个人的眼睛，一百个人的眼睛看宇宙，看到他们每个人看到的一百个宇宙，每个宇宙都是……”--马塞尔·普劳斯这项研究面临着考古学中一个新出现的问题：用数字技术解释过去的人。350多年来，科学家们一直试图使用绘画、模型和立体模型来重建人类祖先居住的世界。利用21世纪的数字技术，我们现在可以使用从骨骼遗骸中提取的DNA来制作前人的3D数字化身。但这可能会带来什么好处，它会引发什么问题？我们如何以数字方式重建过去的人，真实性重要吗？以数字方式呈现不同年龄、性别或残疾的过去的人的能力是否改变了我们对过去的看法？传统的2D插图、博物馆模型和3D化身在对过去的人的表现和理解上有显著差异吗？基于生物考古学证据，“复活”过去的人的伦理是什么？可以(以及应该)对过去的人的重建进行存档，以鼓励他们创造性地重复使用吗？其他人的眼睛将构建过去的人的生活史--这些人与我们截然不同，但可以通过数字技术分享他们的经历。这是一项新颖而重要的研究，因为生物考古信息从未被用来创建基于化身的身临其境的数字体验。目前在其他领域的研究表明，基于化身的沉浸具有令人难以置信的影响力，并增加了跨文化共鸣。其他眼睛将允许用户像罗马时代的人一样互动，基于在约克挖掘的人类遗骸。这些人类遗骸表明，许多过去的人经历了改变的流动性，而重建赋予了一个规范的、健全的视角。通过利用生物考古证据创建化身，我们的目标是从根本上改变学者和普通公众理解和解释过去的方式。因此，其他眼睛的目的是利用虚拟化身和身临其境的技术更好地理解过去人们的经历，然后将这种理解传达给其他人。为了实现这一目标，我们将：1.回顾重建过去的人的历史、背景和伦理。2.通过基于人工制品、墓葬和其他证据创建化身来调查过去人的数字化身。评估重建过去的人的能力，以唤起现在的人的同理心反应。开发收集、存储和传播过去人的数据的最佳实践。其他眼睛将允许人们通过数字沉浸式技术探索过去的多样性，即约克郡博物馆的增强现实体验(XR)。约克郡博物馆信托基金的战略目标是发展数字参与。由于这些骨骼遗骸具有一系列冲击性的身体伤害，并表明了罗马不列颠的种族多样性，这将有助于目前对残疾和过去差异的理解。这将使博物馆和研究人员能够对XR进行评估。结果将在开放获取的期刊上公布，并在学术会议和公开演讲中公布。XR将在网上推出。在使用过去个人的陈述时对道德的审查将在网上和向政府提供。该项目潜在的更大意义是：(I)使考古学在越来越多的数字媒体中为全球关于人类意味着什么的讨论做出有意义的贡献，(Ii)增进对过去和现在的其他人的同理心，了解在整个时代有不同的生活方式。

"The only true voyage of discovery, the only fountain of Eternal Youth, would be not to visit strange lands but to possess other eyes, to behold the universe through the eyes of another, of a hundred others, to behold the hundred universes that each of them beholds, that each of them is...." -Marcel ProustThis research confronts an emerging issue within archaeology: that of interpreting past people using digital technology. For over 350 years scientists have sought to recreate the worlds inhabited by our human ancestors using drawings, models and dioramas. Using 21st century digital technology, we can now use DNA recovered from skeletal remains to make 3D digital avatars of past people. But what benefits might this bring and what questions does it raise? How do we digitally reconstruct past people and does the authenticity matter? Does the ability to digitally embody a past person of a different age, sex, or with a disability change the way we think about the past? Are there significant differences between traditional 2D illustrations, museum models, and 3D avatars in the representation and understanding of past people? What are the ethics of "resurrecting" past people based on bioarchaeological evidence and can (and should) reconstructions of past people be archived to encourage their creative reuse?Other Eyes will construct life histories of past people--people who were profoundly different than we are but who can share their experiences through digital technology. This is novel, important research because bioarchaeological information has never been used to create an avatar-based immersive digital experience. Current research in other fields has shown that avatar-based immersion is incredibly impactful and increases cross-cultural empathy. Other Eyes will allow users to interact as Roman-era people, based on human remains excavated in York. These human remains have shown that many past people experienced altered mobility, whereas reconstructions privilege a normative, able-bodied perspective. By creating avatars from bioarchaeological evidence we aim to fundamentally alter how academics and the general public understand and interpret the past. Therefore the aim of Other Eyes is to better understand the experiences of past people using virtual embodiment and immersive technologies and to then communicate this understanding to others. To achieve this we will:1. Review the history, context and ethics of reconstructing past people. 2. Investigate the digital embodiment of past people by creating avatars based on artefacts, burials, and other evidence.3. Assess the capacity for reconstructions of past people to evoke empathetic responses from present people.4. Develop best practices for the collection, storage and dissemination of data about past people.Other Eyes will allow people to explore the diversity of the past through digital immersive technology, namely an augmented reality experience (XR) at the Yorkshire Museum. The Yorkshire Museums Trust have a strategic aim to develop digital engagement. As these skeletal remains have an array of impactful physical injuries and demonstrate the ethnic diversity of Roman Britain this will inform present understanding regarding disability and difference in the past. This will allow the evaluation of XR in museums and among researchers. Results will be made available in open access journals, presented at academic conferences and in public talks. The XR will be made available online. The examination of ethics in the use of representations of past individuals will be made available online and to the government. The potentially greater significance of this project is: (i) for archaeology to contribute meaningfully to the global discussion of what it means to be human amongst a growing array of digital media and (ii) to increase empathy with other individuals both past and present, understanding that there were different ways of living throughout time.