Drones, Machetes, and Virtual Reality: 21st-Century Tools for Historic Preservation

The climate is changing, and sea levels are rising. This will have a catastrophic impact around the globe, especially for those who live in the Pacific Islands, as entire countries, cultures, and architectural artifacts are wiped off the map. As technology advances and becomes increasingly accessible, we now have tools to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Specifically, photogrammetry and virtual reality let us document artifacts at risk of submersion in order to support historic preservation efforts in the face of climate change. This session will present a recent project documenting archaeological and architectural ruins in Kosrae, Micronesia. The project supported effective decision making about the preservation of culturally significant artifacts by experiencing them from new points of view. To do this, the project investigated feasibility; developed workflows; and utilized drones, photogrammetry, virtual reality, and augmented reality toward the historic preservation of cultural artifacts.