OTHER EYES: Understanding the past through bioarchaeology and digital media

“唯一真正的发现之旅，唯一永恒的青春之泉，不是去陌生的地方，而是拥有另一双眼睛，通过另一个人的眼睛，一百个人的眼睛来观察宇宙，看看他们每个人所看到的一百个宇宙，他们每个人都是。这项研究面临着考古学中一个新出现的问题：使用数字技术解释过去的人。350多年来，科学家们一直试图用绘画、模型和立体模型来重现我们人类祖先居住的世界。利用21世纪世纪的数字技术，我们现在可以使用从骨骼遗骸中恢复的DNA来制作过去人的3D数字化身。但这可能带来什么好处，又会引发什么问题？我们如何数字化重建过去的人，真实性重要吗？数字化地体现一个不同年龄、性别或残疾的过去的人的能力是否会改变我们对过去的看法？传统的2D插图、博物馆模型和3D化身在表现和理解过去的人方面是否有显著差异？基于生物考古学证据“复活”过去的人的伦理是什么？过去的人的重建可以（也应该）被存档以鼓励他们的创造性再利用？“其他之眼”将构建过去人们的生活史--这些人与我们有着深刻的不同，但他们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，因为生物考古学信息从未被用于创建基于化身的沉浸式数字体验。目前在其他领域的研究表明，基于化身的沉浸感具有令人难以置信的影响力，并增加了跨文化的同理心。其他眼睛将允许用户作为罗马时代的人进行互动，基于在约克挖掘出的人类遗骸。这些人类遗骸表明，许多过去的人经历了改变的流动性，而重建特权规范，健全的观点。通过从生物考古学证据中创造化身，我们的目标是从根本上改变学者和公众对过去的理解和解释。因此，Other Eyes的目的是使用虚拟化身和沉浸式技术更好地理解过去人们的经历，然后将这种理解传达给他人。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.调查过去的人的数字体现通过创建基于文物，墓葬，和其他证据的化身。3.评估过去的人的重建唤起现在的人的移情反应的能力。为收集、存储和传播关于过去的人的数据制定最佳实践。Other Eyes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会有一个发展数字参与的战略目标。由于这些骨骼遗骸有一系列有影响力的身体伤害，并展示了罗马不列颠的种族多样性，这将告知目前对过去残疾和差异的理解。这将允许在博物馆和研究人员中对XR进行评估。研究结果将发表在开放获取期刊上，并在学术会议和公开讲座上发表。XR将在网上提供。对使用过去个人代表的道德审查将在网上提供，并提供给政府。这个项目的潜在更大的意义是：（i）考古学对全球讨论在越来越多的数字媒体中成为人类意味着什么做出有意义的贡献，（ii）增加对过去和现在的其他人的同情，理解有不同的生活方式。

"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.