The “Compressor” cave in the Atapuerca mountain range now has a complex multimedia installation which transports the visitor to the heritage site in the past. The aim is to promote knowledge and communication about, as well as interpretation of, the important and discoveries that have been unearthed there and that continue to take place.
The Atapuerca Foundation has inaugurated the “Time Cave”, the first space of its kind in Europe. An innovate project which transports the visitor to the prehistoric past in a virtual journey to the depths of the site in the Atapuerca mountain range.
Immersive installation
The Virtualware technology company and the Atapuerca Foundation have worked together closely in order to combine a heritage site and immersive technologies, creating a space capable of transmitting to the public at large the wealth of heritage of this mountain range and its findings. A 3.60m x 2.00m stereoscopic installation enables the public to travel back in time – “a journey to the past” – and live out scenarios from thousands of years ago.
Visitors discover, by means of 3D animation, how our ancestors went about their daily lives and how they communicated with each other over 4 periods of human evolution: Homo antecessor, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens.
The complete visit, lasting approximately one hour, and with a tourist guide specialised in human evolution in charge, introduces the visitors to the site, where they will walk along the trench made for the old railway and be able to observe one of the most important heritage sites in the world, apart from finding out what archaeological field work is like and how our ancestors lived in the Atapuerca mountain range – a magical area full of discoveries.
As a final touch, they will enter the “Compressor” cave, where the guide will be able to choose the most interesting period for the group in the tour and, depending on the weather conditions, decide on the duration of the virtual visit. Moreover, the application is available in 4 languages.
The project forms part of V-MusT.net, the EU Network of Excellence, the principal objective of which is to help the museum sector to innovate through using new technologies and virtual reality in order to create experiences of added value for the visitor.