Exploiting wireless networks for virtual archaeology: the PAST project

Under the IST 5th Framework Programme, the EU has funded PAST, a project aimed at exploiting wireless computer networks in archaeological fields, to improve the understanding of the general public of what is visible in an archaeological site. Project participants include three archaeological sites, Bibracte in France, Toumba in Greece and Passo di Corvo in Italy; researchers of Computer Science and archaeology; and three technological companies. In this paper, the point of view of one such site, that of Passo di Corvo, shall be taken to illustrate project aims. The objective is to develop at the three sites a system which is able to adapt the suggestion of a visit path to the wishes and needs of various dynamic user profiles. Explanations on what is visible is dependent on the location of the user, which the system is able to detect in real time, as well as on user profile and history of the visit. The user may also connect to other information sources for a better understanding of the archaeological evidence, for example to a local museum where the findings have been stored, or to other sites in the PAST network to find answers about related subjects (e. g. how did they cook? how did they bury the deads?). The project shall exploit available technologies like voice interaction and digital imaging in order to provide tourist assistance in various languages and at varying level of details. The methodology defined for PAST shall make this experience reproducible to other archaeological sites which may connect to the network when the system shall be operational (prototypes at end of 2001).