Digital Public Mortuary Archaeology via 3D Modelling: The Pago del Jarafi Cemetery (Granada, Spain)

Abstract

One of the main goals of the MEMOLA research project's open-area excavation at Pago del Jarafí (Lanteira, Granada, Spain) was to promote knowledge socialisation by means of imparting information and public participation. The site, a multi-phased rural settlement with cemeteries of different chronologies and cultural affinities, was subject to a complete 3D photogrammetric survey, a tool serving to develop virtual models both to interpret the excavation and subsequently transmit the results to the public – so as to raise their level of engagement - via social networks and websites. Burials, in particular, are features that attract the local population to the site and arouse both a demand for information and site preservation. 3D modelling of the burials is thus a digital resource bearing a high scientific and social potential when integrated in a strategy reaching beyond the technical aspects. This paper therefore considers the 3D modelling of burials as an innovative form of digital public mortuary archaeology.