Harvard
University
Cultural Arts
and Media Lab
University
Cultural Arts
and Media Lab
Donor-facing platform for tracking
the digital preservation of an
at-risk archaeological record
︎︎︎Challenge
1.
Interrupted
Scholarship
2.
Fragmented Archaeological Record
3.
Lack of
Donor Engagement
Gandhara was an ancient Buddhist civilization that once stretched across what is now Pakistan and Afghanistan. Its material record has been fragile after decades of looting and site destruction dating back to the 1980s.
In August 2021, the Taliban returned to power. Foreign excavation stopped overnight and archaeologists fled the region. Two decades of documentation was left behind, cut off from scholars and institutions depending on it.
The Harvard Cultural Arts and Media preserves and study cultural heritage sites under threat like this one using 3D reconstruction, scanning, and digitization.
SMS was engaged to lead the end-to-end conception and development of Digital Gandhara, a web platform built to make this preservation work legible to donors and scholars.
In August 2021, the Taliban returned to power. Foreign excavation stopped overnight and archaeologists fled the region. Two decades of documentation was left behind, cut off from scholars and institutions depending on it.
The Harvard Cultural Arts and Media preserves and study cultural heritage sites under threat like this one using 3D reconstruction, scanning, and digitization.
SMS was engaged to lead the end-to-end conception and development of Digital Gandhara, a web platform built to make this preservation work legible to donors and scholars.
︎︎︎ Opportunity
1.
Communicate Missing Holdings
2.
Design for
Long-Term Growth of Archives
3.
Support Multiple Depths of Inquiry
The digital platform would be positioned as a Living Archive: a dynamic and evolving resource designed to continuously grow as new discoveries and research emerge.
Working with field archaeologists and academic leadership, we defined three priorities. The platform would show not only how many sites we held material on, but how many were missing. It would grow over time, absorbing new material as it was recovered. Finally, it would support multiple depths of inquiry, letting any user move from a regional overview into a single site's own dedicated archive.
Above, it is showcased using a significant Stupa artifact. The platform sets up a “container” for its incomplete historical record, allowing it to expand over time as new archaeological findings and scholarly insights become available. Researchers and archaeologists can add new data, including excavation reports, photographs, 3D models, and textual analyses, as they uncover additional structures.
For scholars, it would facilitate comparative studies, pattern recognition, and exploration of the cultural significance of the stupas. For donors, it is a visual documentation of what preservation work is supported by their funding.
Working with field archaeologists and academic leadership, we defined three priorities. The platform would show not only how many sites we held material on, but how many were missing. It would grow over time, absorbing new material as it was recovered. Finally, it would support multiple depths of inquiry, letting any user move from a regional overview into a single site's own dedicated archive.
Above, it is showcased using a significant Stupa artifact. The platform sets up a “container” for its incomplete historical record, allowing it to expand over time as new archaeological findings and scholarly insights become available. Researchers and archaeologists can add new data, including excavation reports, photographs, 3D models, and textual analyses, as they uncover additional structures.
For scholars, it would facilitate comparative studies, pattern recognition, and exploration of the cultural significance of the stupas. For donors, it is a visual documentation of what preservation work is supported by their funding.
︎︎︎Methods
1.
Geolocate and Index Ancient Sites
2.
Reconstruct Sites from Fragmentary Evidence
3.
Design Framework to Grow Over Time
We built an interactive map that geolocates Gandharan sites at different stages of preservation, cataloging them from ruins to well-preserved stupas.
Coordinates were mapped, and each site was indexed and associated with a folder storing its relevant materials. This gave users a sequential way to explore archaeological material.
On hover, entries open up 3D models, multimedia galleries, and scholarly summaries, letting users study each location at varying levels of depth. 3D models built from on-site scanning are embedded as interactive elements, rotatable and zoomable, offering a tangible sense of spatial layout, scale, and condition.
One site, destroyed in the 1980s, was reconstructed from excavation plans, textual accounts, and the memories of its last lead archaeologist. The resulting web-app walks visitors through phases of the city's construction, referencing each milestone to its archival document.
︎︎︎Outcome
1.
End-to-End Platform Delivery
2.
On-Site
Lab Experience
3.
A Repository for New Discoveries
We led design from low-fidelity prototypes through fully functional user flows, managing a team of six contributors and integrating rigorous user testing for three key use cases: donors, students, and scholars.
We then tailored the web interface as an on-site museum aid for public tours at CAMLab, optimizing for touchscreen interaction, adding guided tour features, interactive hotspots, and contextual artifact information, and ensuring cross-device functionality across both the web platform and the physical exhibit.
The platform now serves both as light research infrastructure and donor-facing record of the Lab's preservation work. Scholars and the public can navigate at varying depths, while donors track the material their support preserves. The ‘Living Archive’ is deployed as a system structured to keep growing as more of Gandhara's material record becomes accessible.
︎︎︎Details
Link ︎
Sector:
Cultural Heritage, Digital Humanities,
Academic Research
Services:
Web Development,
UX/UI Design,
Interactive Mapping,
3D Reconstruction
Digital Storytelling
Location:
Harvard University
485 Broadway
Cambridge, MA 02138
Toolkit:
Figma
HTML5/CSS
ArcGIS
Blender
Maya
C4D
Clients, Partners:
Dr. Eugene Wang, Founding Director
Chenchen Lu, Associate Director
Yiwen Liu, Project Manager
Figma
HTML5/CSS
ArcGIS
Blender
Maya
C4D
Clients, Partners:
Dr. Eugene Wang, Founding Director
Chenchen Lu, Associate Director
Yiwen Liu, Project Manager