Enlivening the Past: Evoking Human Presence with 'Living Traces' in Virtual Reconstructions

Virtual Reality (VR) reconstructions of cultural heritage often appear static and lifeless, while attempts to populate them with virtual humans are resource-intensive and often result in unconvincing representations. This paper proposes and empirically evaluates a 'living traces' approach, adapted from museum curatorial practice, as a resource-efficient alternative that uses deliberately staged environmental cues to imply, rather than simulate, human presence. Based on this approach, we developed a VR experience depicting a domestic home in Ningbo, China, during the late 20th century. We conducted a mixed-methods study with 50 participants. Data was collected via behavioural observations and questionnaires; the latter combined Likert-scale items measuring experiential qualities with open-ended questions capturing subjective accounts. The 'living traces' approach proved effective, with 98% of participants reporting a sensation of living traces in the virtual environment. This sensation correlated with VR-specific affordances, particularly the feeling of being surrounded by the virtual world and the ability to impose changes on it. The 'living traces' approach offers a viable framework for imbuing virtual heritage with an affective sense of life, shifting the design focus from technically simulating it to evoking it by triggering the user's own memory and imagination, thereby creating deeply personal and meaningful connections to the past.