3-D Virtual Reality Storytelling experience

On Saturday, April 27, from 1 to 4 p.m. visitors to Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center can experience three-dimensional (3-D) immersive virtual reality storytelling of the Spiro Mounds story. The University of Arkansas’s Arkansas Stories series, funded by the Chancellor’s Innovation and Collaboration Grant, utilizes objects and places along with unique 3-D virtual reality to tell a part of the history of this unique, prehistoric American Indian site. This was a collaborative effort of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Department of Anthropology and Humanities Program, and the Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design.

The project unveiling will take place on Friday, April 26, at the University of Arkansas Giffels Auditorium in Fayetteville, Arkansas, from 5 to 9 p.m. with presentations and a demonstration, and then on Saturday, April 27, with the demonstration at the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center near Spiro from 1 to 4 p.m.  Admission to the center will be free for this program. Dr. George Sebo, director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey and the Tesseract Team, will unveil and demonstrate the story of Spiro Mounds, especially the “Sacred Chamber,” through the artifacts and ceremonies depicted in the presentation. The use of 3-D imagery and technology will allow visitors to enter into a unique part of this 1,200-year-old society and manipulate the artifacts they see.

“While much of the Spiro culture is still a mystery, the 3-D immersive environment will give participants the chance to see what a ceremony may have been like, in a very immediate and interactive way,” said David Fredrick, director of the Tesseract Center. “Creating this experience allows us to bring the past into the present in a very tangible and meaningful way.”