Communicating Hidden Archaeological Monuments and Heritage Landscapes to Different Audiences through Advanced Digital Technologies

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The aim of the Network of UK-IRL researchers and partners is to address the challenges of uncovering hidden archaeological landscapes, buildings and monuments through digital documentation and visualisation. Heritage landscapes may remain hidden because their significance is simply not recognised or because knowledge of them is specific to specialists and not conveyed to the public. The transformative effect on knowledge exchange will be seen through communicating new knowledge to a socially inclusive public audience.The network includes archaeologists and heritage scientists from the University of Bradford, University of Aberdeen, NUI Galway and University College Cork. The UK partner is Historic Environment Scotland. IRL national partners include the National Monuments Service, the National Museum of Ireland and the Discovery Programme. The Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark, the Burren College of Art, the Caherconnell Centre, Clare County Council, Wicklow County Council and the Carlow Archaeological and Historical Society are the regional and local partners, with key input from independent artist Sarah O'Connor. Researchers, partners and participants will develop the project through three workshops and a public symposium.Five discrete archaeological landscapes, in Rathgall, Co. Wicklow and the Burren, Co Clare, have been selected to showcase the project. A range of digital documentation and visualisation technologies will be trialled on hidden elements of (1) the unexplored settled landscape of Rathgall hillfort linked with a new Bronze Age social elite; (2) a large enclosure/ long cairn on Turlough Hill, a highly significant place for ritual gatherings in Neolithic and Bronze Age Burren; (3) artefacts from archaeological excavations at the medieval settlement enclosure of Caherconnell/ its multi-period landscape setting; (4) the unknown northern extent of the Chalcolithic - Early Bronze Age landscape of farms, field walls, and ritual monuments at Roughan Hill; and (5) a late medieval building which may have a hidden identity as a brehon law school, at Toomullin on the Atlantic coast of Burren. The narratives that we can generate about the material remains of human activity in the past is often limited by partial and broken views of the places in which individuals and communities once went about their lives. Digital technologies have the potential to extend and develop existing stories of places and can bring new narratives to bear on established views of the meaning of past built environments. Encouraging people working in different fields, especially in the creative industries to respond to and use 3D imagery and visualisation produced through the activities of this network will be an important dimension of the project. The National Museum of Ireland, the Burren College of Art (BCA) and independent artist, Sarah O'Connor will contribute to this creative process of reimagining the past in landscapes of the Burren and Wicklow. The project will also be a training opportunity for postgraduate students from Irish universities and QUB who will be invited to attend the technology trials and the public symposium. The use of digital documentation within archaeology and the humanities has the potential to stimulate interest from new and under-represented user groups - including young, disabled or otherwise disadvantaged sections in society - using dynamic, flexible and accessible delivery modes. Economic opportunities for heritage and tourism enterprises may also be promoted by the use of engaging/ immersive mixed (virtual and augmented) reality content of local monuments/ landscapes and by the creation of replicas and 3D prints of associated artefacts. The network will share knowledge through an interactive website, film and other artistic media together with 3D visualisation, mixed reality, and 3D prints of monuments and artefacts and a peer-reviewed journal article.