From the cave to the virtual museum: accessibility and democratisation of Franco-Cantabrian Palaeolithic art

Abstract

[EN] Palaeolithic art is a cultural manifestation of great importance to understanding the early history of our species. Through this artistic phenomenon, one can study aspects such as long-distance contacts, evidence of learning or the perception with which Palaeolithic humans were able to execute and memorise such precise details. However, there are few virtual repertoires that offer collections of Palaeolithic art. Accessibility to this type of archaeological remains is even more difficult considering conservation is prioritised over tourist visits. For these reasons, Palaeolithic art is today a type of cultural asset that is largely unknown to the population. The project "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" was created with the aim of democratising this heritage and making it more accessible. To this end, a virtual museum has been developed to exhibit digital models of parietal and portable art with complementary annotations for each one. The methodology includes a first stage dedicated to digitising examples of Palaeolithic art in caves or open-air stations and exhibited in Spanish and French museums. Next, the necessary infrastructure was designed to house the exhibition using specific software such as Blender. Post-processing tasks were carried out to reducing the number of polygons without losing quality. Finally, the museum has been uploaded to the Sketchfab platform to make it freely available online. It is hoped that this virtual museum will contribute to promoting and creating a more significant number of digital resources related to Palaeolithic art that are easily accessible to the public. Highlights:

Despite being a transcendental cultural manifestation in the history of humanity, there are hardly any open-access virtual repertoires of Palaeolithic art. The numerous photogrammetric studies carried out in successive archaeological campaigns to answer scientific questions can be used in educational and dissemination projects. In the framework of the authors outreach project called "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" a virtual museum has been created to make Palaeolithic art a more accessible and democratic heritage.

[ES] El arte paleolítico es una manifestación cultural de gran importancia para comprender los primeros momentos de nuestra especie. Gracias a este fenómeno artístico podemos estudiar aspectos como los contactos a larga distancia, las evidencias de aprendizaje o la percepción con la que podían ejecutarse y memorizarse detalles tan precisos. Sin embargo, son pocos los repertorios virtuales que ofrecen colecciones que incluyan piezas de arte paleolítico. La accesibilidad a este tipo de vestigios arqueológicos es incluso más difícil si tenemos en cuenta que se prioriza la conservación frente a las visitas turísticas. Por estos motivos, el arte paleolítico es hoy un tipo de bien cultural muy desconocido por la población. El proyecto "PaleoArt-3D: regreso al pasado" nace con el objetivo de democratizar este patrimonio y hacerlo más accesible. Para ello se ha creado un museo virtual donde se exponen modelos digitales de arte parietal y mueble con anotaciones complementarias para cada uno. La metodología comprende una primera etapa dedicada a la digitalización de las muestras expuestas tanto en cuevas y estaciones al aire libre como en museos españoles y franceses. Seguidamente se ha creado la infraestructura necesaria para alojar la exposición utilizando softwares específicos como Blender. Las tareas de postprocesado se han llevado a cabo con el objetivo de disminuir el número de polígonos sin perder calidad. Finalmente, el museo se ha subido a la plataforma Sketchfab para que esté disponible de forma online y gratuita. Se espera que este museo virtual contribuya a impulsar la creación de un mayor número de recursos digitales que tengan que ver con el arte paleolítico y a los que la población pueda acceder fácilmente.