The installation of the 3-D CAVEkiosk in UC San Diego’s Geisel Library marks the completion of a major research goal of the project. In addition to catalyzing cyber- archaeology work and providing virtual reality-equipped network bandwidth with which UC scholars can collaborate, share, store and visualize at-risk cultural heritage data, members of the campus communities and visitors to the kiosks can “travel” to cultural heritage sites and explore them as if they were there.

In addition to Geisel Library, 3-D kiosks are being installed at UC Merced’s Kolligian Library, with two more opening at UC Berkeley’s Phoebe Hearst Museum and UCLA’s Fowler Museum in 2017. While the project’s most urgent goal is to preserve at-risk cultural heritage data and digital artifacts, a growing collection of 3-D archaeological data will also be used to study, forecast and model the effects of human conflict, climate change, natural disasters and technological and cultural changes on these sites and landscapes. The CAVEkiosk is the first large-scale 3-D immersive environment designed expressly for public engagement so that members of the campus communities and the public can experience at-risk cultural heritage first-hand in libraries, museums and other public places.

Brian Schottlaender, UC San Diego’s University Librarian praised the effort, saying “We are thrilled to have the 3-D CAVEkiosk in Geisel Library. The Library is a place for discovery, collaboration, and creativity, and the hundreds of students who come to Geisel each day will be stimulated and inspired. I’m also pleased that the Library’s Research Data Curation team is in on the ground floor of this important effort, and is preserving these vast amounts of data in our long-term digital preservation repository.”

The Catalyst grant project is a collaboration among archaeologists from four UC campuses: Tom Levy (UC San Diego), Benjamin Porter (UC Berkeley), Nicola Lercari (UC Merced), and Willeke Wendrich (UCLA). Each campus team has collected digital archaeology data from at-risk sites in the Middle East. Last fall, I led a team to Israel and the Palestinian territories, to conduct research along the famous Kidron Valley that has its origin near the Temple Mount—Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem— and flows eastward through the Judean Desert to the Dead Sea.

Along this drainage system is the famous Mar Saba Greek Orthodox monastery, dating to the 5th century AD. This is the second oldest continuously occupied monastery in the world. Our team used a helium balloon system to take hundreds of high-definition digital photographs from which to construct Structure-from-Motion (SfM) 3-D computer models of this beautiful site. Earlier this year, analysis of satellite imagery showed that the Islamic State (ISIS) destroyed a similar, 1,400-year-old monastery, St. Elijah (Dair Mar Elia in Arabic), in Iraq. While Mar Saba is not in immediate danger, our project highlights the importance of creating 3-D digital archives of important heritage sites around the world.

The Catalyst project employs a number of undergraduate students who are l honing valuable data science and VR technology skills. At UC San Diego, a team of students has been working to visualize the Mar Saba dataset for 3-D viewing in both the Geisel Library CAVEkiosk and in personal VR devices such as Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard. The students are all members of the campus VR club and amazingly talented 20-year-olds.

Unfortunately, the Kidron Valley stream is totally polluted with raw sewage that is damaging both the cultural heritage and the natural environment as it flows through both Israeli and Palestinian territory. But I believe it may be possible to achieve small steps toward peace—through sewage! If we can use the tools of cyber-archaeology and scientific visualization to create VR platforms that engage all stakeholders in the area— through immersive VR like the CAVEkiosk—we can drive tourists, especially eco-tourists, to the Kidron Valley. If we can accomplish this we will create more economic value out of the invaluable and at-risk heritage sites such as Mar Saba.

Thomas Levy is a distinguished professor in the Department of Anthropology and director of the Qualcomm Institute’s Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability (CCAS) at the University of California, San Diego.