Immersive Interaction and Interpretation of Ancient Spatial and Shape Data: XR for Archaeological Research

We will demonstrate our innovations for data collection and interaction during archaeological fieldwork using mixed and augmented reality. Archaeologists understand past human life by researching the objects and spaces that were created and modified during past human activity. Thus, our research is inherently three-dimensional (3D) in the real world, and our data includes the spatial information from our sites, such as architectural remains, and the shape information of the artifacts we uncover. Although 3D graphics have provided new ways to precisely capture archaeological data over the last decade [Roosevelt et al, 2015], the use of these data is limited by our 2D interfaces. Mixed and augmented reality headsets have the significant potential to revolutionize the ways that archaeologists conduct their fieldwork by changing how they interact with and interpret their data in the field. Our experiments with eXtended Reality devices during our archaeological fieldwork demonstrate the way forward for archaeologists working all over the world.