A Virtual Reconstruction of the Batavia Shipwreck in Its Landscape

We present a digital reconstruction of a shipwreck in a landscape context, illustrating the value of combining and synthesizing spatial data from a wide variety of sources to provide new insights on a heavily studied archaeological site. The shipwreck used for this case study is Batavia, one of the best-known shipwrecks in the world due to its rarity as an early Dutch East Indiaman, its association with the early days of the discipline of maritime archaeology, and with the dramatic events that followed the wrecking of the ship on an isolated reef off the west coast of Australia in 1629. The digital reconstruction of this shipwreck site leverages LiDAR, ship-construction manuals, and contemporary and modern ship models with underwater photogrammetry to provide new insights on the aftermath of the wrecking, site taphonomy on the seabed, and to recreate the visual aspects of the site.