Prehistory space

On February 7, the PREHISTORY SPACE, Wildlife, climate change and Garraf’s archeology, was inaugurated in the Margarida Xirgu space of the Ramon Fernández Jurado Library in Castelldefels. This is an immersive exhibition that includes the tasks carried out by the Quaternari Research Group (GRQ) of Barcelona University since archaeological remains were found in the Rhino Cave in the summer of 2018. The news was echoed throughout the world due to the importance of the remains found, appearing in the news in media such as tv3 or La Sexta. Since then, the researchers have carried out various tasks of classification, cataloguing, study, restoration and consolidation of the different remains in their laboratory in La Guixera located in the Garraf Natural Park.

Our task as a multidisciplinary team of educators, technologists and UX experts has been to design immersive content in a creative and innovative way that makes the exhibition a unique and unforgettable experience. With immersive technologies we make the exhibition more fun, however, what is more important: we increase learning because we increase engagement and content retention by more than 70%. In short, we have created a space where exploring, discovering, having fun and learning go hand in hand. We have created an authentic trip to the past, 100,000 years ago!

Here is a compilation of different experiences that we have developed side by side with the team of archaeologists, restorers, communication experts and technicians from the town hall. Co-creation is the best way to generate relevant experiences that achieve the objectives with which they are designed:

TIME-LAPSE OF EXCAVATION TASKS 

The first product we developed was a four-day 360º time-lapse of the GRQ archaeological work in the excavations of the Ca n’Aimeric Rhino Cave (Castelldefels). The aim has been to provide a 6-minute resource summarizing the four excavation days from the archaeologists’ point of view. As if you were working with them in the excavation.

EXCAVATION TASKS WITH 360º AUDIO

In this second product, we captured a 20-minute period of the GRQ’s archaeological work in the excavations of the Ca n’Aimeric Rhino Cave (Castelldefels). As before, the objective has been to bring the detail of the tasks closer to the users from archaeologists point of view to feel like working with them in the excavation.

INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL GUIDED TOUR TO LA GUIXERA 

Once the remains were extracted from the site, the next step was to take them to the La Guixera archeology laboratory to study and restore the pieces. Immersium Studio we have created a 360º interactive virtual guided tour inside and around the laboratory.

One of our priorities was to achieve a very dynamic route with different points of interaction, as well as ensuring freedom of movement both inside and outside the laboratory. This dynamism is completed with audiovisual content in which the expert archaeologists themselves explain how the post-extraction tasks of the fossil remains are carried out. We have also tried to convey the welcoming environment in which La Guixera is located by incorporating the surroundings and the sound of the Garraf Natural Park in the interactive tour.

AR ANIMATED RECREATIONS OF ANIMAL SPECIES 

The most important archaeological remains found in the Rhinoceros Cave are: the complete skeleton of an elephant calf (Elephas antiquus) which is the main piece of the exhibition; the skull and mandible of a extinc species subadult runner rhinoceros; and the skull of a Mediterranean deer (Haploidoceros mediterraneus).

In the PREHISTORY SPACE, visitors can experience how archaeological remains come to life through the ArQuatern Augmented Reality app (available on the Play Store and App Store). This has been possible thanks to the recreation in 3D animations of different species from the remains found, a job in which we have collaborated closely with the team of expert archaeologists. They explained to us the characteristics of the species found 100,000 years ago and what their environment was like then in the Garraf Natural Park. We have been in charge, in successive iterations, of transferring all this scientific knowledge to animated recreations that capture all audiences, from the smallest to the oldest.

→ Elephant (Elephas antiquus). 

→ Rhino runner (Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis). 

→ Mediterranean deer  (Haploidoceros mediterraneus). 

It is a great project of which we are very proud of the outputs, but above all of the relationship that we have been able to enjoy with the different people and organizations that have participated. The Quaternary Research Group leave us these words:

From the Quaternari Research Group (SERP) of Barcelona University, ​​we are developing a scientific project focused on the environmental reconstruction of the Pleistocene (fauna and flora) as well as the human groups, mainly Neanderthals, who lived during this period. For this reason, we have collaborated with Immersium Studio, a spin-off of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), in order to develop recreations of the main animal species that lived during this time. Augmented and Virtual Reality techniques have been used as tools so that the scientific community can visualize these extinct species and to generate Knowledge Transfer to the non-specialized public. The results generated have been excellent and I recommend Immersium Studio for archaeological heritage visualization projects.

On the other hand, our CEO, Luis Villarejo, explains how it has been for Immersium Studio to collaborate with the various organizations:

During these months of work we have shared many moments with the great professionals of Castelldefels City Council and the Quaternari Research Group. During the excavation days, we were able to experience up close the people work who make up the Quaternari research group with Montse, Joan and Almudena at the forefront, but with many people behind and whom we apologize for not being able to mention by name. Those days of working together have represented for us the opportunity to learn from within the details of a job with many nuances and in which meticulous work, precision, attention to detail and perfectionism make the difference without neglecting the joy and good atmosphere seasoned by moments of Radio TeleTaxi that we will hardly forget. The same can be said of the Castelldefels City Council team, led by Alfonso and Elisabet, and the Molecula team, led by Rafael and Eduard, with whom it is a luxury to work for their ability to organize, structure and execute. Sometimes we find professionals who, no matter how hard we try to reach them, find it difficult to jump on the bandwagon of immersive technologies. This project has not been the case since, from the first minute, everyone has seen the opportunity and benefit of immersive technologies application. One of the most beautiful things that we are left with is having been able, through Virtual Reality, to virtually transfer a person with a fear of heights to the sixth floor of the scaffolding where the excavations were taking place, so that they could feel as if you were there without having to go through the pain of climbing six stories high on the scaffolding.

Finally, I would like to thank the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya for their support in this project, as well as the Castelldefels City Council, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the European Regional Development Fund, which have been involved in different points of this process.