A dwelling place in bits

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Description/Abstract

This paper considers computed means for constructing and interrogating prehistoric architectures. We ask where the ‘landscapes’ created through points and arcs divide us from the prehistory we seek and whether in fact these virtual landscapes offer new prehistoric places in which to dwell. Taking as a starting point the formulation of models of prehistoric space the paper considers how habitual computed action, constrained as much by technological systems as by archaeological information, and informed by analytical approaches to such ‘architectures’, defines places usefully from which to consider dwelling choices and dwelling experiences. By considering the development of landscape as a complex cultural continuum, incorporating both prehistoric architectures and natural features reinterpreted through the environmental experience of successive generations, it becomes possible to produce parallel dwelling places in virtual worlds which we can inhabit, and from which we can develop novel narratives of the past.