Taking a virtual dive into the Ice Age. In Art of Science

Caption: A researcher takes a ‘virtual dive’ into a cache of Ice Age bones in 3D Participant category: Researcher Department: Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative (CHEI) Deep below the jungles of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is a flooded cave containing the bones of extinct megafauna and the skeletal remains of one of the earliest humans yet discovered in the Americas. It is remarkable place where many archaeologists and paleontologist may never venture. Working with technical cave divers, Qualcomm Institute researchers and their Mexican colleagues have led a major digital documentation effort -- creating a digital twin of the site that can be explored and studied at full scale and in 3D. The WAVE (or Wide-Angle Virtual Environment) at UC San Diego enables researchers to immerse themselves in data collected from such remote and inaccessible worlds.