“Deep History”, a course jointly offered by the History and Anthropology departments this semester, combines the perspectives of archaeology and history together in a single historical framework. To help anchor the course in the timeline of past and present, students engage with the world-class collection of artifacts at Harvard’s Peabody Museum, giving them a unique opportunity to approach human history through material remains.

As part of this engagement with the Peabody collection, the History Department has been working with the museum to create 3D models of museum objects for use in the class. In section, students visit the Peabody Museum to engage with the physical object, enhancing and complementing their digital engagement with the object.

In this Digital Futures Discovery Series presentation, Professors Daniel Lord Smail (History) and Matthew Liebmann (Anthropology) will discuss the rationale for grounding the course in material culture, and the impact that the 3D models have on the course, and Jeremy Guillette, the History Department Digital Scholarship Facilitator, will discuss the scanning process, including a live demonstration of the scanning equipment.

After the talks, we invite your questions and ideas. We will also have Google Cardboard headsets available for viewing the scanned objects in virtual reality.

This event text was originally posted at http://www.digitalfuturesconsortium.org/3d-scanning-deep-history/