Open Archaeology 2016; 2: 209–231 Peter Dawson*, Richard Levy From Science to Survival: Using Virtual Exhibits to Communicate the Significance of Polar Heritage Sites in the Canadian Arctic DOI 10.1515/opar-2016-0016 Received January 20, 2016; accepted October 29, 2016 Abstract: Many of Canada’s non-Indigenous polar heritage sites exist as memorials to the Heroic Age of arctic and Antarctic Exploration which is associated with such events as the First International Polar Year, the search for the Northwest Passage, and the race to the Poles. However, these and other key messages of significance are often challenging to communicate because the remote locations of such sites severely limit opportunities for visitor experience. This lack of awareness can make it difficult to rally support for costly heritage preservation projects in arctic and Antarctic regions. Given that many polar heritage sites are being severely impacted by human activity and a variety of climate change processes, this raises concerns. In this paper, we discuss how virtual heritage exhibits can provide a solution to this problem. Specifically, we discuss a recent project completed for the Virtual Museum of Canada at Fort Conger, a polar heritage site located in Quttinirpaaq National Park on northeastern Ellesmere Island (http://fortconger.org). Keywords: Arctic; Heritage, Fort Conger, Virtual Reality, Computer Modeling, Education, Climate Change, Polar Exploration, Digital Archaeology. 1 Introduction Climate change and the emerging geopolitical significance of the Arctic have important implications for Canada’s polar heritage. In many Arctic regions, thawing permafrost, land subsidence, erosion, and flooding are causing irreparable damage to heritage sites associated with Inuit culture, historic Euro-North American exploration, whaling and the fur trade (Blankholm, 2009; BViikari, 2009; Camill, 2005; Hald, 2009; Hinzman et al., 2005; Morten, 2009; Stendel et al., 2008). These same climate change processes are also making areas of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago increasingly accessible to commercial shipping, oil and gas exploration, and adventure tourism. Canada’s sovereignty over the waterways of the Queen Elizabeth Islands has recently been challenged by nations such as China, Russia and the United States (Coates et al., 2010; Romaniuk, 2013). In response, the Canadian Government has used heritage sites such as the recent discoveries of HMS Investigator, HMS Erebus, and HMS Terror to assert their authority over contested areas (Hodgetts, 2012). The Inuit also have a vested interest in polar heritage, which serves both as sources of cultural identity, memory, and as testimony to the roles their ancestors played in advancing the ambitions of such polar explorers as Robert Peary and Vilhjalmur Stefansson. However, the key messages Original Study Open Access © 2016 Peter Dawson, Richard Levy, published by De Gruyter Open. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. Article note: This article is a part of Topical Issue on Advances in Arctic Archaeology *Corresponding author: Peter Dawson, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. T2N1N4, Canada. E-mail: pcdawson@ucalgary.ca Richard Levy, Faculty of Environmental Design, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. T2N1N4, Canada. Unauthenticated Download Date | 7/28/18 6:28 AM