Virtual Reality Application Keltenwelt am Glauberg

New approaches in VR for archaeological sites

Abstract

Virtual (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have long moved from fancy tools used to solely impress an audience to important means that enable a better understanding of archaeological sites within their environs. The VR application of the museum of the “Keltenwelt am Glauberg” aims to add a new level of information by using the technical abilities of modern VR devices to explain the route that archaeologists have taken to reconstruct different views of a past long gone in an intentionally non-photorealistic but honest style that shows different solutions for reconstructions and gives room for the users’ own thinking and interpretation. The great potential of VR in the form of immersion and conveying a feeling of presence, was also used to design new experiential spaces on a 1:1 scale that can maximally serve the communication of archaeological research, methods and results, while at the same time enabling new sensory and spatial experiences. The result – which will be made available for Oculus Quest 2 devices – will be used for entertaining educational purposes in the museum, it also is the basis for further data and models that have been on display in exhibitions, presentations, publications and last but not least in an AR app that helps to explore and understand the Early Iron Age hillfort on the Glauberg.