Damien Vurpillot

Le projet Aspectus a été pensé par des archéologues pour les acteurs de l’archéologie et du patrimoine. Aspectus est une plateforme collaborative en ligne, accessible sur l’ensemble des supports digitaux (ordinateur, tablette, smartphone), qui permet de visualiser, d’interagir et d'échanger autour de données 3D complexes (nuages de points et modèles 3D). Sa structure est simple, nous nous appuyons sur une base open source flexible, modulée et étendue en fonction des besoins. Le carnet a pour ..

Les sanctuaires des eaux forment une catégorie originale de lieux de culte antiques, en particulier en Gaule où une place privilégiée leur est traditionnellement accordée dans le paysage religieux. Une spécificité largement surexploitée et surinterprétée par une abondante littérature qui a contribué à véhiculer une vision faussée du phénomène. La reprise récente de données sur une série de sites considérés comme caractéristiques, et s'appuyant sur plusieurs projets de recherches, rend opportune la mise en œuvre de cette étude dans le Grand-Est de la Gaule. Au moyen d'une révision en profondeur de la documentation, l'objectif avoué de ce travail est de proposer des scenarii d'évolution du phénomène et des pratiques qui lui sont liées, afin d'améliorer notre compréhension des rythmes d'apparition et de développement de ces sanctuaires. Au-delà, il s'agira aussi d'aborder plus généralement la question des mutations qui touchent la géographie sacrée de la...

Cette étude à pour objectif de mieux mesurer la place et l'importance du culte des eaux au sein du paysage religieux de l'est de la Gaule, en proposant des scenarii d'évolution du phénomène et des pratiques qui lui sont liées. Au-delà, il s'agira aussi d'aborder plus généralement la question des mutations qui touchent la géographie sacrée de la Gaule suite à son intégration dans la Romanitas. Le cule des eaux en Gaule est un concept nourri par les contradictions. Nous nous sommes donc efforcés de forger notre propre opinion sur ce concept équivoque. Tout d'abord, nous avons exploré ce tour d'horizon par une relecture des sources antiques, ce qui a achevé de nous convaincre que le culte des eaux devait être perçu comme un concept religieux flexible. En Gaule, les communautés se seraient appropriées ce concept et l'auraient adapté à leurs besoins, même si un certain nombre de conventions religieuses paraissaient transcender les époques et les cultures. ...

The study of water cults in Gaul suffers not only from a great deal of variability in the quality of the available data, which is a common issue in archaeology, but also, more specifically, from the burdening of past historiographical approaches, which contributed to conveying a distorted view of the phenomenon. Accordingly, our main problems lie in site identification and reliability assessment. Until recently this uncertainty was avoided by widening the study to all sites with at least one characteristic attribute, or conversely, by limiting the corpus to the best documented sites. It seemed necessary to develop tools that would exploit this uncertainty, to study the phenomenon in the most complete possible way. These tools take the form of a database, associated with a GIS, leading to the practical evaluation of a site potential using a calculation grid.

Settlement patterns and path networks represent different but connected perspectives on human-environment interaction through movement, manifested through the appropriation and organisation of landscape by societies. Settlement patterns and path networks evolve with unharmonized temporalities, but in constant interaction which render the territorial studies very challenging. Remote sensing, GIS and 3D modeling have greatly contributed to our knowledge and understanding of movement as encapsulated in routes, but the methods employed make it difficult to connect with theories of engagement through travel. Pragmatically, it is difficult to integrate LiDAR-detected traces of pathways, which conflate temporalities, with network analysis techniques and settlement pattern analysis which focus on changing patterns over time. This paper argues for an integrated approach. After a general review of the main methods developed to detect and model movement, pathways and networks of transportation...

High density remote survey technologies have become widespread practices. In recent years, we have seen a tenfold increase in volume of digital data acquired. Beyond this sheer amount of data, multimodal three-dimensional data exploitation has become another common challenge for specialists. The Aspectus project aims to ease the access to complex three-dimensional data and to promote collaborative work and remote expert assessment. Thus, we can get past the problem of distance and availability of the “object of expertise”, ranging from cultural heritage sites to artefacts. By extension, it enables us to circumvent the ever-present problem of destruction. Aspectus takes advantage of available open source solutions to produce a flexible web-based visualization and collaboration tool. After an overview of the theoretical framework and its technical implementation, we will discuss a practical application as part of the “Bibracte Numérique” project.

As part of its Heritage Atlas project, the municipality of Besancon in partnership with MSHE C.N. Ledoux from the University of Franche- Comte, started a 3D data acquisition focused on a military building, the Tour de la Pelote. This late Middle Ages tower, subsequently included in Vauban's fortified architectural program (UNESCO world heritage) at the end of the seventeenth century, was ravaged by fire in 2013. An archaeological survey was then carried out to investigate the building evolution, prior to its complete restoration in accordance with the past construction. Despite great investment, the tower, remains inaccessible because of security issues.In order to ensure both general public access and research activities on this complex type of archaeological building, it was decided by the partners to acquire high resolution measurement series using a Riegl VZ400 T-Lidar Scanner. The inherent architectural complexity of the building, tied to narrow and steep stairs connections...

How does one interpret remains of the past without projecting one's cultural baggage in the process? This is a daily concern both for historians and archaeologists. In the present study, we investigate the possibility that a careful analysis of visual attention can provide invaluable hints leading us toward a better understanding of symbolic space. Through the examination of low level visual inputs we are able to explore the spatial composition of an archaeological landscape as it was originally intended to be seen and perceived. This provides a possibility for identifying socially meaningful features in a realistic virtual environment.

In recent years, we have seen a tenfold increase in volume and complexity of digital data acquired for cultural heritage documentation. Meanwhile, open data and open science have become leading trends in digital humanities. The convergence of those two parameters compels us to deliver, in an interoperable fashion, datasets that are vastly heterogeneous both in content and format and, moreover, in such a way that they fit the expectation of a broad array of researchers and an even broader public audience. Tackling those issues is one of the main goal of the "HeritageS" digital platform project supported by the "Intelligence des Patrimoines" research program. This platform is designed to allow research projects from many interdisciplinary fields to share, integrate and valorize cultural and natural heritage datasets related to the Loire Valley. In this regard, one of our main project is the creation of the "Renaissance Transmedia Lab". Its core element is...

Cette etude a pour objectif de mieux mesurer la place et l'importance du culte des eaux au sein du paysage religieux de l'est de la Gaule, en proposant des scenarii d'evolution du phenomene et des pratiques qui lui sont liees. Au-dela, il s'agira aussi d'aborder plus generalement la question des mutations qui touchent la geographie sacree de la Gaule suite a son integration dans la Romanitas. Le cule des eaux en Gaule est un concept nourri par les contradictions. Nous nous sommes donc efforces de forger notre propre opinion sur ce concept equivoque. Tout d'abord, nous avons explore ce tour d'horizon par une relecture des sources antiques, ce qui a acheve de nous convaincre que le culte des eaux devait etre percu comme un concept religieux flexible. En Gaule, les communautes se seraient appropriees ce concept et l'auraient adapte a leurs besoins, meme si un certain nombre de conventions religieuses paraissaient transcender les epoques et les cultures. ...

Settlement patterns and path networks represent different but connected perspectives on human-environment interaction through movement, manifested through the appropriation and organisation of landscape by societies. Settlement patterns and path networks evolve with unharmonized temporalities, but in constant interaction which render the territorial studies very challenging. Remote sensing, GIS and 3D modeling have greatly contributed to our knowledge and understanding of movement as encapsulated in routes, but the methods employed make it difficult to connect with theories of engagement through travel. Pragmatically, it is difficult to integrate LiDAR-detected traces of pathways, which conflate temporalities, with network analysis techniques and settlement pattern analysis which focus on changing patterns over time. This paper argues for an integrated approach. After a general review of the main methods developed to detect and model movement, pathways and networks of transportation, a conceptual framework will be presented that will enable us to make the connection between the material evidence of routes and various computer-based models of movement, and thus better understand territorial dynamics. This conceptual framework investigates connectivity at various spatiotemporal scales. Most importantly, it creates an explicit framework for research using both detection and modelling-led approaches. A comparison of regional case studies from the literature will be presented to discuss the balance between general models and specific contextualisation.

Due to INSPIRE directive, various spatial data infrastructure (SDI) were developed to support research activities. In practice, these tools remain underexploited by researcher for many reasons. First, their use is time-consuming and researchers usually consider that they provide no immediate benefits. Second, their use is often complex and needs a substantial investment for researchers who have a limited expertise in spatial data. Finally, often based on 2D GIS environment, they do not provide an adequate tool for collaborative research in archaeology. From this experience, an interdisciplinary team designed and developed an SDI based on GeOrchestra, synchronized with a share app (owncloud) and coupled to visualization tools (Lizmap, Potree and Cesium). This paper will present the conceptual framework of our SDI and its advantages for the targeted audience. We will then focus on the introduction of open source solutions designed to share and visualize spatial datasets in 3D, relying...

In advance of the future extension of the "technopole" and the construction of a service station in the district of Magny-Cours, the undertaking of two evaluations covering 15 hectares and 4 hectares, respectively, has revealed dense occupation of the site from the Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. The most important remains are associated with the Roman period and belong to a complex endowed with public buildings including several temples in an organised arrangement. This paper, preliminary to a larger study that will report on the whole of the site, is concerned specifically with the results obtained in a waterlogged area comprised within a zone that was excluded from the rescue excavations. Located near the cult buildings, this area was found to contain a deposit of ex-votos belonging to the beginning of the Roman era.

Le projet Aspectus a été engagé en 2016 afin de répondre à des besoins récurrents émanant de programmes de recherche en archéologie. En effet, la place croissante des données numériques nous oblige à élaborer de nouvelles stratégies pour gérer, intégrer et disséminer un volume exponentiel d’informations complexes, multimodales et multirésolution, en direction d’utilisateurs aux attentes et aux compétences variées. Paradoxalement, ces données deviennent de plus en plus difficiles à exploiter par des non-spécialistes. Notre objectif est donc de faciliter le partage de ces données entre tous les acteurs scientifiques en leur donnant les moyens de les visualiser, de les analyser et de les interpréter sans que cela exige une maîtrise technique avancée. Aspectus prend la forme d’un outil en ligne fondé sur des technologies open-source et rend accessibles des données 3D complexes à l’aide d’un navigateur web. Le système s’appuie pour cela sur une interface communautaire qui promeut le partage, la collaboration et l’expertise à distance. Suite au vif intérêt suscité par la présentation d’un « proof of concept » au salon Innovative SHS 2017, il semble désormais opportun de poursuivre le développement de l’outil sous la forme d’un prototype. Dans cette perspective, le projet a maintenant pour cadre le groupe de travail réuni par le projet « Bibracte numérique » qui vise à développer une chaîne de traitement numérique de l’information appliquée aux métiers de l’archéologie.

(250 words): In recent years, we have seen a tenfold increase in volume and complexity of digital data acquired for cultural heritage documentation. Meanwhile, open data and open science have become leading trends in digital humanities. The convergence of those two parameters compels us to deliver, in an interoperable fashion, datasets that are vastly heterogeneous both in content and format and, moreover, in such a way that they fit the expectation of a broad array of researchers and an even broader public audience. Tackling those issues is one of the main goal of the "HeritageS" digital platform project supported by the "Intelligence des Patrimoines" research program. This platform is designed to allow research projects from many interdisciplinary fields to share, integrate and valorize cultural and natural heritage datasets related to the Loire Valley. In this regard, one of our main project is the creation of the "Renaissance Transmedia Lab". Its core element is a website which acts as a hub to access various interactive experiences linked to project about the Renaissance period: augmented web-documentary, serious game, virtual reality, 3D application. We expect to leverage those transmedia experiences to foster better communication between researchers and the public while keeping the quality of scientific discourse. By presenting the current and upcoming productions, we intend to share our experience with other participants: preparatory work and how we cope with researchers to produce, in concertation, tailor-made experiences that convey the desired scientific discourse while remaining appealing to the general public.

How does one interpret remains of the past without projecting one’s cultural baggage in the process? This is a daily concern both for historians and archaeologists. In the present study, we investigate the possibility that a careful analysis of visual attention can provide invaluable hints leading us toward a better understanding of symbolic space. Through the examination of low level visual inputs we are able to explore the spatial composition of an archaeological landscape as it was originally intended to be seen and perceived. This provides a possibility for identifying socially meaningful features in a realistic virtual environment.

Keywords—Visual attention; virtual reality; archaeology; sanctuary; human behavior

PS: I would gladly speak about this undergoing project with anyone interested

English :

The purpose of the present project is to apply an innovative methodology so as to make the connection between archaeological data and neurosciences in order to analyze individual behavior in a place of worship. And, consequently, to confront the results of these analyzes with our prior interpretations propounded about the functions of the sacred space and ritual practices.
It is common knowledge that the interpretation process of archaeological remains and historical sources is by definition subject to cultural bias. Our views of the past are intimately dependent on modern socio-cultural constructs that determine our perception of the environment, which may differ significantly with the one of ancient societies. In this regard our goal is to put these interpretations through an analytical process that allow us to overcome cultural barriers. And, thereby, to further the joint use of theories about religious activities, which provide general frameworks to justify individual action, and individual case studies, which reverse the perspective and put again people at the heart of the analysis. Therefore it will be the points of convergence and divergence resulting from the two approaches that will provide unprecedented understanding of ancient religious practices.
Besides the results, as for every new methodology, we will learn a lot by carefully scrutinizing every step of this experimental process. We are still in an exploratory phase, for which protocols are not yet fixed and boundaries unknown: should we restrain ourselves to 3D scan for which the remains are still preserved? Or can we also make use of well documented archaeological data, for which we have to produce 3D restitutions? And in this case, what is the “price” of such uncertainty?

Français :

Le but du présent projet est d’appliquer une méthodologie innovante, faisant la liaison entre les données archéologiques et l’essor récent des neurosciences, afin d’analyser les comportements individuels dans un lieu de culte antiques et, par extension, confronter ces résultats aux interprétations émises sur le fonctionnement de l’espace sacré et sur les pratiques rituelles qui y prennent place.
En effet le processus d’interprétation des vestiges archéologiques et des sources historiques est par définition sujet à des biais culturels. Nous sommes tributaires de constructions culturelles et sociales modernes qui déterminent notre perception de l’environnement, qui peut diverger de façon considérable avec la perception des sociétés anciennes. L’objectif est donc d’éprouver ces interprétations au moyen d’analyses qui nous autorisent à dépasser les barrières culturelles. Favorisant par-là l’utilisation conjointe de théories sur les activités religieuses, qui proposent des cadres généraux pour justifier l’action individuelle, à des études de cas individuelles, qui renversent la perspective et replacent l’humain au coeur de l’analyse. Dès lors ce seront les points de convergence et de divergence des deux approches qui offriront des clefs de compréhension inédites quant aux pratiques cultuelles.
Au-delà des résultats à proprement parler, c’est aussi l’efficacité et les possibilités offertes par l’application de ces nouveaux procédés qui est en jeu. Nous sommes toujours dans une phase exploratoire, où les protocoles ne sont pas encore fixés, et les limites incertaines : doit-on se limiter à des scan 3D de vestiges encore conservés en place ? Peut-on aussi explorer des situations bien documentées, mais qui impliquent un processus de restitution, plutôt que la simple transposition du réel dans un univers numérique ? A quel prix ?

Les sanctuaires des Villards d'Héria, situés au cœur du Haut-Jura, se développent dans une configuration étonnante qui suscite l'intérêt de la recherche depuis l’époque moderne. Deux lieux de culte distants d'environ un kilomètre semblent s'associer autour d'un élément naturel commun, l'eau, pour former un vaste complexe religieux dont la renommée n’est plus à faire. Ce site majeur a bénéficié en 2007 d’un programme scientifique pluridisciplinaire, combinant les approches archéologiques et environnementales, visant à revisiter une documentation vieillissante. L’aboutissement de cette étude a non seulement permis de vérifier les assertions anciennes, mais aussi d’élargir et de préciser nos connaissances sur le site. Offrant un regard nouveau sur l’évolution de la présence humaine autour du lac d’Antre, sur les caractéristiques du réseau hydrogéologique mettant en relation les deux sites, et par extension sur la volonté affirmée de maîtriser ce phénomène naturel remarquable durant l’Antiquité.

À l'occasion de la future extension du " technopole " sur la commune de Magny-Cours et la création d'une aire de service, la réalisation de deux diagnostics sur 15 ha et 4 ha a permis la mise en évidence d'une occupation dense du Néolithique au Moyen Âge. La période antique rassemble l'essentiel des vestiges, appartenant à un complexe doté de monuments publics dont plusieurs temples à plan centré. Cet article, préambule à une étude globale qui concernera l'ensemble du site, se limite à la présentation des résultats acquis dans une zone humide exclue de la fouille préventive. Située à proximité d'édifices cultuels, elle a livré un dépôt d'ex-voto remontant au début de la période romaine.

In recent years, we have seen a tenfold increase in volume and complexity of digital data acquired for cultural heritage documentation. Meanwhile, open data and open science have become leading trends in digital humanities. The convergence of those two parameters compels us to deliver, in an interoperable fashion, datasets that are vastly heterogeneous both in content and format and, moreover, in such a way that they fit the expectation of a broad array of researchers and an even broader public audience.
Tackling those issues is one of the main goal of the “HeritageS” digital platform project supported by the “Intelligence des Patrimoines” research program. This platform is designed to allow research projects from many interdisciplinary fields to share, integrate and valorize cultural and natural heritage datasets related to the Loire Valley.
In this regard, one of our main project is the creation of the “Renaissance Transmedia Lab”. Its core element is a website which acts as a hub to access various interactive experiences linked to project about the Renaissance period: augmented web-documentary, serious game, virtual reality, 3D application. We expect to leverage those transmedia experiences to foster better communication between researchers and the public while keeping the quality of scientific discourse.
By presenting the current and upcoming productions, we intend to share our experience with other participants: preparatory work and how we cope with researchers to produce, in concertation, tailor-made experiences that convey the desired scientific discourse while remaining appealing to the general public.

The purpose of this presentation is to expose how Virtual Reality can enhance our understanding of behavioral patterns.

Virtual Reality allows us to create sensory illusions that produce a more or less believable simulation of reality.
The goal is to foster brain and behavioral responses in the virtual world that are analogous to those that occur in the real world.
Its efficiency has been outlined by numerous articles in recent years, but as a new practice, it suffers from recurrent methodological flaws.

Whether it is laser scanning, structured-light 3D scanning or photogrammetry, high density survey technologies produce point clouds (PCL) as a basic digital output. In recent years, the industry has seen a tenfold increase in PCL’s density: datasets with hundreds of millions of points are not rare.
In this regard, we investigate the possibility that PCL’s have become so massive that they are now a viable visualization medium by themselves and should be more often used as a complement to 3D models. As we know, rendering performances are critical for both online visualization and head-mounted display (HMD) applications. Subsequently, the fact that PCL’s visualization efficiency scales up with data volume and precision also brings new research perspective.
On one hand, that benefit allows us to make complex scenes available online through a browser, through the open source PCL viewer Potree for example. It proves to be an invaluable medium for interpretation, one that collaborators can easily access remotely, in order to interact with a comprehensive 3D record of an archaeological site and its context.
On the other hand, HMD’s enable a previously unseen immersion for a smooth and comfortable multi-scalar visualization by means of rendering improvement introduced by Nvidia’s Applied Engineering Department.

This study aims to evaluate the importance of sacred water and cults connected with waters as part of eastern Gaul religious landscape, through the evolution of cult places and ritual practices. By extension, our goals is toprovide a better understanding of the transformations impacting religious activities and how it connects to the promotion of Romanitas by Gallic communities.The religious history of Gaul is well-known for conveying problematic concepts such as "naturist cults" or, in our case, "water cults". Therefore, we strived to study modern literary sources in order to deconstruct historiographical myths. Then, we completed this overview through a diligent re-reading of ancient sources. At this point, we were convinced that "water cult" was a flexible religious concept. Gallic communities would seize the idea of sacred water and cults connected with waters, and adapt it to their needs, even is shared religious norms seem to transcend time and cultures. In order to put this hypothesis to test, we challenged it against archaeological data through a selection of cult places from eastern Gaul, which, in return, allowed us to identify two main chronological phases forming the pattern of the evolution of water cults in Gallo-Roman religious landscape. The first chronological phase stretch from the first century B.C. to the first half of the first century A.D., when this new facet becomes an increasingly growing trend. Afterwards, that new religious discourse reaches a form of maturity starting from the second half of the first century.