DIGITISING SENSITIVE HERITAGE MONUMENTS IN ANTARCTICA

Abstract

Abstract. During the Antarctica expedition CHAQ2020, several cultural heritage sites – remains from the Swedish South Polar Expedition (1901–1903) – were documented using a range of different techniques and technologies. These physical monuments and environments are for all intents and purposes unavailable for most researchers due to their remote location and are also threatened by the effects of climate change. Hence, the deployed documentation techniques and technologies were selected both as a consequence of the inherently difficult conditions in Antarctica, where their reliance, durability, and speed were key considerations, but also for their perceived ability to document the unique and fragile environment. The documentation was carried out with the double intention of both allowing for observations in situ through processes of analytical drawings and data capture, but also capturing the environment as broadly and deeply as possible, in essence making a copy of it open for studies of unknown unknowns, that could serve as a source material for research questions still undefined. Hence, with the documentation of the winter station on Snow Hill Island as a case study, and with a perspective on documentation as a method through which to process, preserve, and disseminate information, this article serves to critically detail, compare, and evaluate the digital techniques and technologies that the expedition deployed to capture architectural elements and spatial contexts, and the data that could be obtained through these.