Thursday, October 31, 2013

Sustainable Archaeology at the OAS Symposium

This past weekend staff from both Sustainable Archaeology Western and McMaster attended the annual Ontario Archaeology Society Symposium in Niagara Falls.

View of both the American and Canadian falls from the conference venue

In addition to our workshop at the end of the day, we were in the book room for the day Saturday, and were able to have some great conversations with a number of professional archaeologists, students, and representatives of other organizations such as the Canadian Conservation Institute and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. 

Book room table setup

We received some great feedback on our use of digital tools and inventory management logic  for labeling and cataloguing of artifacts at Sustainable Archaeology, and enjoyed introducing people to the "immersive archaeological experience" using the Oculus Rift - a virtual reality headset that is designed for the gaming industry. The Oculus at  SA is used to immerse users in a reconstruction of the Lawson village site (located next door to SA: Western at the Museum of Ontario Archaeology) created in summer 2012 by the Sustainable Archaeology Animation Unit internship, using the Unreal game engine. 

Trying out the Oculus

We look forward to continuing conversations from the weekend, and continue to welcome feedback on our draft Procedures and Practices document, available on our website. Thanks to the OAS for a great weekend!

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