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Reconstructions
Building reconstructions are one of the best ways of testing archaeological evidence - for example a suggested type
of building superstructure based on the plan of post-holes from an excavation, may be shown to be technically
unfeasible by actual reconstruction (see Experimental Archaeology). Iron Age round houses, Roman villas,
Anglo-Saxon and Viking timber halls are just some of the reconstructions which have taken place.
There are many examples of reconstructed buildings - in fact most historic buildings have some element of
reconstruction. Very rarely is a building preserved completely - a roof, wall, decorative features, foundations, or
internal features such as floors or ceilings have probably been replaced at some stage in recent years. In the best
examples, painstaking care is taken to reproduce the materials, appearance and techniques of construction as
authentically as possible, so that the newer work does not stand out.
Not all reconstructions are full-scale copies - some are at reduced scale and others are simply parts of the 'real
thing'. The purpose of the reconstruction may be served by concentrating on one aspect, such as the roof.
Computers have introduced digital photography and mapping which can be linked to databases and GIS programmes.
Three dimensional (or 3D) reconstructions of features and structures are now commonplace. Computer graphics and
video technology allow a site to be reconstructed in virtual reality (or VR): it is now possible to take a VR walk
around the inside a long-vanished building (such as a Roman villa), admiring the decoration and lay-out of the
interior, or to travel across a VR landscape amongst Prehistoric barrows, henges and standing stones - when all
these details are accurate representations of excavated evidence. In turn, VR reconstructions, like conventional
artistic reconstructions by pencil and paint, are an aid to the imagination and help us to achieve a more
satisfactory interpretation of the archaeology.
Learn more:
Learn more about Elevations, or return to Evidence.
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