Digitally Preserving Alberta's Diverse Cultural Heritage Project

The last (but not least!) Athens presentation on our research was by PhD Candidate Madisen Hvidberg coauthored with her supervisor Dr. Peter Dawson. Their paper was entitled Rediscovering Landscapes: Digital Recontextualization of a Kootenai Brown Homestead.

This presentation was on a project that Madisen is doing in addition to her dissertation work where she and Pete are exploring the application of reality capture technologies to digital heritage practice through a case study involving the virtual recontextualization of Kootenai Brown’s relocated homestead. Relocated heritage often suffers from a loss of commemorative integrity, a concept that acknowledges the importance of site-specific values including those of spatial, cultural, and narrative nature. By combining terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), historic photography, and virtual spatial alignment techniques, this project digitally reunites the Kootenai Brown cabin with its original landscape in Waterton Lakes National Park. The resulting digital recontextualization provides new possibilities for understanding and interpreting heritage structures that have been physically removed from their contexts. It also illustrates the ethical complexities of presenting digital reconstructions as historical truths.

You can check out both of these Kootenai Brown related datasets on our archive at alberta.preserve.ucalgary.ca and stay tuned to see this research published soon!

The second photo is from the beginning of Madi's trip in Oia, Santorini. This was Madi's fourth time attending the CAAs in person and visiting Greece for it was amazing! Congrats on a great presentation, Madi 🎉

Next up to present in Athens was MA student Erica Van Vugt!

Erica presented on her thesis work, giving a paper entitled "Digitally Preserving the Leavings- Using Policy to Impact Colonial Frameworks." This paper was co-authored by graduate student Madisen Hvidberg, and Erica's co-academic supervisors at the University of Calgary, Dr. Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer and Dr. Peter Dawson.

As Erica describes her work, “The Leavings” critically examines the intersection of digital heritage practices and colonial heritage policy through the lens of a layered site in Southern Alberta. By documenting a collapsing NWMP barn and surrounding landscape, long used by Blackfoot, Métis, and settler communities, this research challenges traditional, structure-centric heritage frameworks. Drawing on Indigenous land epistemologies, the project explores how digital tools like handheld Terrestrial Laser Scanning, photogrammetry, and high-resolution 3D modelling can serve as acts of resistance, preservation, and reconnection. Centring reflexivity, community collaboration, and archaeology as service, this work positions digital preservation not as neutral documentation but as a decolonial methodology that redefines value and access in cultural resource management.

This was Erica's first paper presentation at a conference as well as her first international conference and she did awesome! 👏👏👏

The last photo features Erica working as an assistant for Dr. Amundsen-Meyer on the University of Calgary Archaeological Field School in Edworthy Park (which she started the morning after flying home from Europe).

Next up to present in Athens was MA student Mavis Chan! Mavis presented a paper Removing Vegetation from Point Clouds: A Case Study from Bluefish Caves, Yukon Territory, Canada co authored with supervisor Dr. Peter Dawson and research partner Ty Heffner of the Department of Tourism and Culture, Government of Yukon.

Mavis' presentation was on a component of her MA research and focused on novel methods for removing and filtering of vegetation from point clouds, particularly those that show captures of caves and rock shelter environments. She discussed how the vegetation filtered models can be used to support various aspects of education, public engagement, and research.

While Mavis' presentation used TLS data that she helped collect at Blue Fish Caves last summer, the methodological workflow that she has been developing will have broader implications for use at other digitally captured sites and landscapes.

What an excellent job, Mavis! 👏

𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝: 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭

Join us next Monday, June 9, for Heritage Calgary’s Report to the Community!

Our panelists, recent Heritage Calgary Award winners Kristy North Peigan, Doriena Hasset, Dr. Lynn Cowe Falls, and Zoe Cascadden will discuss “why recognition matters”. They will share stories from their award-winning projects and updates for what’s next. Please visit the registration link below for more information on the panelists and their bios.

Location: Central Library - Patricia A. Whelan Performance Hall, 2-4 pm.

Please register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/heritage-calgary-report-to-the-community-tickets-1304128155419?aff=oddtdtcreator

The first of our graduate students to present in Athens was Zoe Cascadden-Jassal!

Zoe presented on her ongoing dissertation work, with a paper entitled Roots of Memory: The Application of Digital Preservation Methods in commemorating Biocultural Heritage Sites in Alberta, Canada coauthored by graduate student Madisen Hvidberg, and supervisor Dr. Peter Dawson.

Zoe's paper explored the ways through which digital preservation methods such as terrestrial LiDAR scanning can be utilized at biocultural heritage sites related to former Indian Residential Schools in Alberta. At many of these sites, there has been a desire to commemorate the history and stories of survivors from these sites but no buildings remain both on a community-level and within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action.

In her paper, Zoe examined three biocultural heritage sites, sites that have only natural features related to the history of a place, in Alberta - the Burmis Tree, Stampede Elm, and the Kootenai Brown Poplar grove that were successfully captured using terrestrial LiDAR scanning to create digital twins. These digital twins have provided a means for the related communities to keep a copy of their important heritage sites as well as create a digital record of important spots within a landscape. The use of this method at sites with no remaining Indian Residential School buildings serves as potential means for creating digital twins that can link survivor stories to locations on landscapes and more fulsomely meet Call to Action 79.

Check out the bio cultural heritage sites Zoe discussed at alberta.preserve.ucalgary.ca !

Please also note that all of our residential school work is being done with full partnership and guidance from Indigenous advisory groups.

The second photo is from Zoe's adventures in Oia Santorini before the conference. Great job, Zoe!

We are so proud to say that last week several of our graduate students presented at the Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA-International) 52nd annual meetings in Athens!

Five out of seven of the graduate students working in our research group presented on a variety of topics surrounding digital methods and practice in archaeology and heritage. Stay tuned over the next few weeks and we will post more about each of their work!

For now help us extend a massive congratulations to Madisen Hvidberg, Mavis Chan, Kelsey Pennanen, Erica Van Vugt, and Zoe Cascadden-Jassal for their work and successful presentations (left to right in the first photo) 🎉👏🎉

Very exciting news, an episode of the Aboriginal People's Television Network show Little Big Community focused on Siksika Nation heritage and resilience has been released this week! This episode features many members of our cultural advisory group, including Vivian Ayoungman, Angeline Ayoungman, Gwendora Bear Chief, Kent Ayoungman, and Herman Yellow Old Woman.

Brendon Many Bears who helped with our documentation of Old Sun and our research group PhD Candidate Madisen Hvidberg also make appearances!

Check out this episode now streaming on APTN Lumi.

A massive congratulations to our research group members who presented at the Plains Anthropology Society conference last week! Four of our students attended and participated in a variety of exciting ways including winning some awards, so congrats to:

Mavis Chan our new MA student who presented paper on her undergrad work entitled Deadly Visual Illusion: Visibility and Least Cost Path Analysis on Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump UNESCO World Heritage site. Mavis won the Graduate Student Paper Award for this presentation as well as helped run the student workshop on Thursday!

Erica Van Vugt our other new MA student presented a poster entitled The Challenges of Digitally Preserving Collapsed Heritage Buildings -- The Leavings of Willow Creek coauthored with Madisen Hvidberg, Peter Dawson, and Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer. Erica was also the recipient of this year's Native Student Award!

Finally, Zoe Cascadden-Jassal presented a paper entitled Vanishing Icons: Digitally Preserving Grain Elevators in the Canadian Plains coauthored with Madisen Hvidberg and Peter Dawson.

Thank you to all of our partners involved in these projects and to the conference organizers for a great time! Great job to all of our amazing students! 👏👏👏

We are so excited to be able to announce that our project PI Dr. Peter Dawson is a recipient of a 2024 Provincial Award for Heritage Conservation!

PhD candidates Christina Robinson and Madisen Hvidberg nominated Pete for this award for his work starting, supporting, and running the Digitally Preserving Alberta's Diverse Cultural Heritage project. Most of the sites we document under this project are grassroots heritage initiatives for places that have strong ties to community heritage but are often not officially designated.

While digital heritage is not a replacement for physical preservation, it can help ensure the legacy of many sites that are otherwise lost to natural disaster or human activities. So far Dr. Dawson has supported the digital documentation of over 30 sites which you can see on the heritage archive at https://alberta.preserve.ucalgary.ca/

These photos are from our trip to Edmonton for the award ceremony last week, credit to the Alberta Government for the first two photos. You can read more about these awards and see a list of the other recipients at https://www.alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=9106406974A9D-FAFC-35BB-BD43514FE3E4170D

Congrats to Pete for the award and to Chris and Madi for their successful nomination! 👏👏👏

A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure working with the AB Government to capture this iconic SW Alberta Heritage site The Burmis Tree.

The Burmis Tree is a Limber Pine, the longest living species of tree in Alberta. When it died in 1970 the tree was already more than 700 years old! 🤯

It has been anchored and preserved in its location with supports and represents the resilience of the people who live in Crowsnest Pass. There's worry the tree may not be able to last outside much longer, so the digital scans could be integral for designing future management of this unique site.

Have you been to visit the tree? Let us know what your memories are!

Working in departmental collaboration with Dr. Lindsay Amundsen-Meyer, we returned on a very hot Monday this week to do a second scan of the Leavings site with our Z+F 5010X. Featured in the photos are Matthew Lucy and Erica Van Vugt, two of our research groups' MA students!

Earlier this year we documented the site with our mobile laser scanner the GeoSLAM and Erica's MA will be comparing these datasets to determine which scanner had the best coverage of this partially collapsed historic barn.

Collapsed wooden structures are common for heritage sites in Western Canada so this will be important research to determine the best equipment to use to capture places like this!

Thanks to Erica, Matt, Madi, Lindsay, and landowner Scott for commiting to a toasty warm scan day and special thanks to Scott for sharing come ice cream with us at the end 🍦

Stay tuned for more info on this site as the data gets prepped to be added to the https://alberta.preserve.ucalgary.ca/ online archive!

Details of the Markinch Grain Elevator taken during scanning the interior with a BLK 360.

Making a special appearance from Saskatchewan, this super neat 3D dataset is coming soon to an online heritage archive new you...!

Meanwhile, let us know which grain elevator detail is your favorite! 🙌🌾🚭