What is it about?
Virtual reality opens new ways for reconstructing, preserving and exhibiting clothing and textiles. Thisapplies particularly to those from an archaeological context, which can be incomplete, damaged or fragile. Despite the possibilities of computer technology, such as computer graphics (CG) and computer-aided design (CAD), its potential has only been superficially explored. This article showcases its possibilities byfocussing upon the equipment of a Germanic warrior from the 2nd–4th century AD.
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Why is it important?
CG and CAD tools, such asstress analysis and strain analysis, were applied to visualize and examine the behaviour of his equipment. This case study demonstrates that digital reconstructions can be more than scientific visualisation,but also a new and powerful research tool, generating new insights into archaeological artefacts.
Perspectives
As with all scientific methods, there are limitations. The artefactsneed to be in a good enough condition to be informative enough todo a virtual recreation. The advantage in our case study of the Ger-manic warrior is that the objects were all very well-preserved and well-documented. Despite this, the use of the recreated equipmenttogether by one single warrior is an educated guess. The objectsdate back to the same time period and are products of the samearchaeological culture. However, this may be very different for anactual Germanic warrior from a specific place and moment. To him,certain items of the reconstructed equipment may be anachronis-tic or from another social or cultural group. Hopefully with futurefinds, combined with further development in scientific methods,these limitations can be increasingly reduced.
Dr Aleksei Moskvin
Saint Petersburg State University of Industrial Technologies and Design
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The equipment of a Germanic warrior from the 2nd–4th century AD: Digital reconstructions as a research tool for the behaviour of archaeological costumes, Journal of Cultural Heritage, March 2021, Elsevier,
DOI: 10.1016/j.culher.2021.03.003.
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