The Wemyss Caves: Digital Reconstruction and Public Engagement

One of the many negative impacts of climate change is that archaeological sites around the world are facing increasing threat from extreme weather. Rising sea levels in particular threatens almost, if not all, coastal archaeological sites. The SCAPE Trust, along with the University of St. Andrews and Historic Environment Scotland undertake archaeological research projects on Scotland's coast. This is done by professional archaeologists, along with members of the public, using field excavation and digital archaeology methods. A significant aspect of the SCAPE Trust is the public engagement aspect; local archaeological groups, made up of non-archaeologists who have an interest in their area's archaeological past, monitor sites and provide SCAPE with data on erosion and requests for mitigation work. 

One of SCAPE's most famous projects is their 4D reconstruction of the Wemyss Caves. These caves are located on the coastline between East Wemyss and Buckhaven in Fife, Scotland. These caves contain Pictish carvings and are under significant threat from coastal erosion. Additionally, these caves are of significant importance to local residents. In 2013, the York Archaeological Trust, along with SCAPE and the Save the Wemyss Ancient Caves Society (SWAC) spent a week took aerial photographs and laser scanned the Wemyss Coast. Notably, volunteers from SWAC and the general public undertook RTI photography and processed the carvings. The goal of these digital methods was to create a digital reconstruction of the Wemyss Caves and coastline, so that the caves can continue to exist and be engaged with in some capacity, as they are being lost to coastal erosion, 

                        Members of the public undertaking RTI photography of the Wemyss Caves,                                                      source: https://scapetrust.org/wemyss-caves-4d-continues/,                                                         and https://scapetrust.org/digital-future-for-wemyss-caves-pictish-carvings/

Members of the public who did not partake in fieldwork, participated in the project in other ways. Local residents digitized additional information on the Wemyss Caves; they scanned old photos which were crowdsourced from local residents, as well as recorded discussions of their own memories of the Wemyss Caves. 

                      A local ex-miner discussing a game which is traditionally played by locals in the                                                   Crown Cave of the Wemyss Caves, https://vimeo.com/200385730

The final 4D reconstruction of the Wemyss Caves can be found here, http://www.4dwemysscaves.org/. This reconstruction allows you "walk" within the caves and engage with and learn about different aspects of the caves, from the Pictish carvings to evidence of locals visiting the caves in more recent periods. 

I think the SCAPE Trust's Wemyss Cave project is a wonderful example of the possibilities of digital methods in archaeology. The use of digital methods allows for the Wemyss Caves to be reconstructed in such a way that they are still accessible, even though the actual Caves are being lost to coastal erosion. It also allows for the Caves to be reached by a wider audience; would any of us know about the Wemyss Caves if they weren't reconstructed digitally by this project?

Additionally, the inclusion of the public allows community outreach, manpower, and for a wider interpretation of the archaeological material. I think this exemplifies that the value of an archaeological site is not only from their individual existence, but also from their placement within a wider cultural landscape.

What do you guys think? Do you think that digital technologies and methods such as these should be more widely applied to archaeological remains, especially those that are threatened? Is a digital reconstruction really a suitable substitute for the actual thing? Should we be making digital reconstructions of all archaeological sites, even those that aren't threatened, as a preemptive measure? If a digital reconstruction and the interpretations of the people who made it is all we have left, can we still learn from these? Or are we limited by this? Do you think including the public in such an in-depth way has value? Are there potential issues with having untrained people provide archaeologists with data on sites?

Sources: 

https://scapetrust.org/

https://scapetrust.org/4d-wemyss-caves/

http://www.4dwemysscaves.org/

https://scapetrust.org/digital-future-for-wemyss-caves-pictish-carvings/

https://scapetrust.org/wemyss-caves-4d-continues/

https://vimeo.com/200385730