Reconstructing Chavin de Huantar (Peru): designing an educational tool for art historians

This paper discusses the process of reconstructing a unique and remote site such as Chavin de Huantar in Peru, focusing on the choices made in designing the user interface and the difficulty of translating archaeological/anthropological information into a visual and information-rich tool for the teaching of art history. This paper explains why it is difficult to evaluate Chavin de Huantar and how a virtual reconstruction was done in order to provide a useful and user-friendly resource for art historians and their students in order to help appreciate the importance of this site and rescue it from being forgotten. The paper discusses plans to create a fully immersive reconstruction of Chavin de Huantar using CAVE/sup TM/ technology, Iris Performer and Open Worlds and the issues concerning the maintenance of two tools for teaching - one that is more portable and one that is more immersive.