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Augmenting Phenomenology: Using Augmented Reality to Aid Archaeological Phenomenology in the Landscape

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Abstract

Explorations of perception using GIS have traditionally been based on vision and analysis confined to the computer laboratory. In contrast, phenomenological analyses of archaeological landscapes are normally carried out within the particular landscape itself; and computer analysis away from the landscape in question is often seen as anathema to such attempts. This paper presents initial research that aims to bridge this gap by using augmented reality (AR). AR gives us the opportunity to merge the real world with virtual elements, including 3D models, soundscapes, and social media. In this way, aspects of GIS analysis that would usually keep us chained to the desk can be experienced directly in the field at the time of investigation.

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Notes

  1. Although we must acknowledge that a computer model being run in the laboratory requires all of the variables to be either modelled or heavily simplified, as it is as yet impossible to create an acceptably accurate model of the whole world.

  2. That the ‘player’ is assumed to be an average height male implies a number of things about the user and the situation. This height value can (and should) be changed dependent on the user.

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Acknowledgments

This research has only been possible due to generous funding provided by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and University College London Graduate School. Thanks are also due to Dr. Mark Lake, Dr. Andrew Gardner and Dr. Anna Collar. A version of this paper was presented at the ‘In Search of the Middle Ground’ conference held in Aberdeen in 2011, many thanks to Kirsty Millican and Dorothy Graves for inviting me to the conference and giving me permission to publish this paper.

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Eve, S. Augmenting Phenomenology: Using Augmented Reality to Aid Archaeological Phenomenology in the Landscape. J Archaeol Method Theory 19, 582–600 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-012-9142-7

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