Project Overview:
VRR is a virtual archaeology project established in 2019. Our core mission is the development of immersive virtual reconstructions of past retail landscapes to further research on ancient marketing strategies and consumer behavior. VRR’s 3D models also provide virtual learning environments for pedagogical immersion that facilitate meaningful student engagement with the ancient world. In visualizing famous archaeological sites like Pompeii and Ostia, VRR contributes to cultural heritage preservation and tourism, making the past more widely accessible to a diverse global audience.
Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design
During its first phase (2019-2021), the project received generous support from the Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design, directed by Dr. David Fredrick, Associate Professor of Classics and PI of the Virtual Pompeii Project, at the University of Arkansas. Tesseract was a game development and visualization studio that produced immersive, game-based content for courses and research.
Student Internships
VRR is a student-centered project, and we are always looking for talented undergraduate and graduate students to join our interdisciplinary team. If you have an interest in the Ancient Mediterranean World, virtual archaeology, marketing and retail history, 3D modeling, game design, graphic design, environmental psychology, architectural history, and/or computer science, you have something to contribute. Reach out for more information on how to apply.
Meet our team.
VRR is an interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and specialist.
Dr. Rhodora G. Vennarucci
Project PI – rhodorav@uark.edu
I am an Assistant Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Arkansas and a Roman archaeologist, whose research focuses broadly on the socioeconomic history of the Roman world. I am the Scientific Director of the Virtual Roman Retail project, which leverages virtual technologies to explore how ancient Romans shopped in shops. I have also collaborated on the Virtual Pompeii Project, which uses 3D visualizations of Roman houses to test predictive analyses of human behavior. I am, moreover, a co-PI of VILLAE (Virtual Interaction and Live Learning Augmented Experience), which established a workflow for transforming heavy laser scanning data sets captured at the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina into an accessible, game-based, WebGL application. In my role as co-PI and field director on the Marzuolo Archaeological Project, I supervise the project’s digital methodologies, including geospatial recording and analysis, terrestrial and UAV photogrammetry, and 3D visualizations of the site. I am a dedicated educator, and intentionally implement digital pedagogies into my classroom.
Will Loder
Project Co-Director – wtloder@uark.edu
Will Loder, the Virtual Roman Retail Project’s Technical Director, is an independent DH Developer and archaeologist. He has an MA in Comparative Literatures and Cultural Studies from the University of Arkansas. As a 3D Designer and, more recently, Project Manager at the Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design (2013-present), Loder has extensive experience training students in digital skills and workflows and has contributed to numerous digital humanities projects. He is currently polishing and bug fixing WebGL visualizations of various Fay Jones designed structures in Arkansas for the NEH funded Fay Jones: Housing the Human and Sacred project. He was the Project Manager of the Mornin’ in Your Eyes, a US Civil Rights game, which was awarded Silver in the Higher Education category of the 2021 International Serious Play Awards competition, and the Virtual Pompeii Project. He also managed the design and release of a VR application that is being used as a pedagogy tool in elementary Italian classes at the University of Arkansas. Loder worked as an excavator and field supervisor on the Marzuolo Archaeological Project (2016-2019).
Eray Can
Research Assistant (2022)
Eray Can is a digital archaeologist with specialist skills in UAV photogrammetry and 3D modeling. Once he completes his MA in Anthropology at the University of Arkansas, he will return to Turkey to work for the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In Fall 2022, Can assisted in processing 3D models from the data sets collected at Ostia Antica, which will be integrated into the design of a second interactive shop scene for the project’s VR application.
Kelsey Myers
Research Assistant (2020-2021)
Kelsey Myers, currently a Project Manager at BCS LLC, earned an honors BA in Classical Studies from the University of Arkansas in 2020. She joined the project as a research assistant in 2020-2021 to conduct a survey of religious imagery and iconography in commercial spaces at Pompeii, an extension of her honors thesis research.
Adam Schoelz
Main Technical Assistance (2019-2021)
Adam Schoelz is a game developer specializing in systems design and gameplay programming. While holding the position of Lead Software Engineer at the Tesseract Center for Immersive Environments and Game Design, Schoelz assisted VRR in the development of its Pompeii shop application and initial website design.
Research Outcomes
Publications
Fredrick, D., R. G. Vennarucci, W. Loder. Forthcoming. “What Remains of Paquius Proculus? Video Game Bodies in Virtual Pompeii.” In H. Barnard (ed.), Archaeology Out-of-The-Box. Los Angles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press (UCLA).
Conferences and Invited Lectures
Vennarucci, R. G. “You Touch It, You Buy It: Toward Multisensory Experience in a Pompeian Shop.” If Data Could Walk: At the Intersection of Spatial Data and Phenomenology in Pompeii, virtual, July 23-24, 2021.
“Virtual Roman Retail: recreating ancient Roman streets and shops in VR.” Invited speaker at Arkansas Stories of Trauma and Resilience: Ivy on The Wire release event hosted by Univ. of Arkansas Humanities Center and Tesseract Center, April 7-8, 2021.
“Searching for Ancient Consumer Cultures in The Roman Shop.” Invited by the Medieval/Early Modern Colloquium at the Univ. of Arkansas, March 17, 2021.
Vennarucci, R. G., D. Fredrick, and W. Loder, “Socci and Sociability: Shopping for Status in a Roman Shop.” 121st annual meeting of the AIA, Washington D.C., 2-5 January, 2020.
Loder, W., R. G. Vennarucci, D. Fredrick, “Designing Digital Antiquity: Approaches toward Immersive Applications in Archaeology.” 121st annual meeting of the AIA, Washington D.C., 2-5 January, 2020.
Vennarucci, R. G., D. Fredrick, and W. Loder “Days of Future Retail Past: VR Tracking of Consumer Behavior in an Ancient Roman Shop.” 14th annual meeting of the Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) Conference, Montreal, CA., 18-20 July, 2019.
Funding
Provost Collaborative Research Grant, University of Arkansas, $2,880, 2018-2019.
Pedagogy and Community Outreach
Workshops for Secondary Schools
In October 2020, VRR and VRP hosted a virtual workshop on digital archaeology for Northwest Arkansas’ Thaden School. Students in Thaden’s Latin program were introduced to different ways we are applying digital technologies to the interpretation and reconstruction of Roman towns like Pompeii.
If you are interested in having VRR conduct a workshop at your school, please contact us.
Immersive Pedagogy
VRR’s virtual content is being integrated into courses at the University of Arkansas to provide students with immersive learning experiences.
