Digital Field Trips: Viking Graffiti in Neolithic Orkney
History students experience Neolithic remains, transcribe and transliterate runic graffiti, and interpret graffiti in relation to its space and place. The use of an immersive environment brings alive the questions and theories of the anthropology of writing and the archaeology of space.
Overview
Dr. Julie Mell, Associate Professor of History, and Shaun Bennett, Research Librarian, collaborated over multiple semesters to create digital field trips to explore medieval European history.
Using high-resolution panoramic images, text, and video, students experience the Maeshowe gravesite without ever leaving the campus. The 360-degree projection in the Visualization Studio at the Hill Library transports a group of students to Orkney where they examine and translate runic graffiti. The actual size of the gravesite is taped out on the ground for physical comparison.
The tomb at Maeshowe was likely built during the Neolithic period, and traveling Scandinavians broke into the tomb in the 12th century to seek shelter. While we’re unsure exactly how many times the tomb was visited, the result is dozens of inscriptions in Old Norse runic. The inscriptions range from discussions of treasure that was supposedly in the tomb at one time, to variations of “I was here”. These inscriptions are used by instructors in the Visualization Studio to open up discussions around graffiti, meaning, cultural norms, and much more.
How We Did It
This project utilized the immersive display technology in the Libraries and was facilitated and supported by Libraries staff. The project was built using images, video, and text in a Google Slides template provided for this space.
NC State students, faculty, and staff can request a consultation in this space through this form or by emailing library_hightechspaces@ncsu.edu.
