Saving the Past With 3D Printing: An Interview with Dr. Bernard Means, Director of the Virtual Curation Laboratory

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In this June 2014 video interview AntiquityNOW spoke with Bernard Means, PhD., who heads up the Virtual Curation Laboratory and is an Instructor of Anthropology and Advisor for the Virtual Archaeology Scanning Team (VAST) at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He discusses what archaeologists are doing to document information and why 3D technology holds a unique place in preservation efforts. In this wide-ranging and lively interview you’ll learn how 3D printing can help preserve ancient sites in areas of conflict and the amazing possibilities afforded in bringing the past alive to teachers, students and those who treasure our global heritage.

U.S. Civil War iron-alloy cup from Union camp near Fredericksburg, VA known to soldiers as “Camp Misery.”

Dr. Means will be working with AntiquityNOW and our educational consultant Peter Albert, an instructor in the History and Global Studies Department at The Hun School in Princeton, New Jersey on The Slavery Project. The Project is a series of curricula that chronicle human ownership from antiquity to modern times. The first module will be on the Triangular Trade. Many modules will also include Minecraft 3D modeling to recreate different eras and cultures. The Slavery Project is designed to be an interactive, immersive curricula on the historical and modern implications of human bondage, and as well will reveal the daily lives of people living during these periods through such cultural touchstones as music, art and culinary traditions.

Civil War-era smoking pipe from “Camp Misery.”

The Slavery Project along with 3D printed artifacts from Dr. Means’ lab will be featured at this week’s National Council on the Social Studies annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts. On Friday morning, November 21, AntiquityNOW will be presenting a paper to the International Assembly on the Triangular Trade curriculum written and being piloted by Albert at The Hun School, and conducting a poster session in the afternoon. If you’re a teacher, come by and sign up to help us with our immersive curricula modules. We look forward to meeting you!

To learn how 3D printing works and for more information, see the links below from Dr. Means:

Also check out How 3D Printing Works from our friends at How Stuff Works. Mind-bending applications for the not-so-distant future.