Virtual Heritage

Virtual heritage or cultural heritage and technology is the body of works dealing with information and communication technologies (ICT) and their application to cultural heritage, such as virtual archaeology. Virtual heritage and cultural heritage have independent meanings: cultural heritage refers to sites, monuments, buildings and objects "with historical, aesthetic, archaeological, scientific, ethnological or anthropological value", whereas virtual heritage refers to instances of these within a technological domain, usually involving computer visualization of artefacts or Virtual Reality environments.

One technology that is frequently employed in virtual heritage applications is Augmented Reality, which is used to provide on-site reconstructions of archaeological sites or artefacts.

Many virtual heritage projects focus on the tangible aspects of cultural heritage, for example 3D modelling, graphics and animation. In doing so they often overlook the intangible aspects of cultural heritage associated with objects and sites, such as stories, performances and dances. The tangible aspects of cultural heritage are not inseparable from the intangible and one method for combining them is the use of virtual heritage serious games, such as the 'Digital Songlines' game for experiencing the cultural heritage of Australian Aborigines.