Tablet and smartphone applications for Prehistory Adventure project

In order to preserve the protected natural heritage of the Vindija cave, the municipality of Donja Voća has initiated the project "Prehistory Adventure - Experiential Walk through Prehistoric Heritage" as part of the Cross-border Cooperation Program Interreg V-A Slovenia-Croatia. The aim of this project was to preserve and promote the archaeological heritage of the Vindija cave and knowledge of prehistory in an adventurous way, thus giving the protected cultural and natural heritage new interesting content.

As part of the project, a mobile application "Prehistory Adventure" was developed, which includes historic descriptions of the Vindija cave sites and offers various entertaining interactive content. The idea of the application was to tell prehistoric events from the Early Stone Age to the Iron Age in an modern way, and to demonstrate how prehistoric man lived, ate and worked in different periods.

Background

The prehistoric heritage of the Vindija cave was not properly presented in the form of educational and attractive content, so it was necessary to complete the value of the protected natural heritage in a modern way.

Challenge

It was necessary to study the contents of the protected natural heritage and the historical remains of the Vindija cave, and to interpret how man's ancestors lived through prehistoric periods.

Our approach

Our approach to the project was to create a mobile application that will bring up the prehistoric potential of different regions of the program area and provide target groups with an unforgettable insight into the most distant period of human history. The idea of the mobile application is to provide fun and educational content through various scientific articles and quizzes, but also the possibility for advertising for tourism service providers.

Solutions

A mobile application for smartphones and tablets with elements of gamification has been delivered, which fully interprets the prehistoric period in the geographical area that includes the municipalities of Donja Voća and Turopolje in Croatia, as well as Zreče and Radenci in Slovenia. The application shows content in two languages (Croatian and Slovenian) and is available on Android and iOS platforms.

The mobile application contains various functional units that tell a prehistoric story in an interesting and interactive way. One of them is the "Prehistory Blog" which presents informative articles on archaeological research, sites, and research methods.

In parts of the application called "Timeline" and "Traces of the past" it is possible to move through time by sliding the screen left-right, where each screen displays a description of a historical time. It also presents all the excavations, traces of time, and various archaeological sites.

It is also possible to test knowledge through three levels of an interactive quiz, specifically for the Vindija cave, Brinjeva gora and the municipality of Radenci.

As part of the tourist offer, the app also invites visitors to a two-day prehistoric adventure that includes a tour of the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Vindija Cave, municipality of Radenci, the archaeological route on Brinjeva Gora, and the Museum of Turopolje.

Vindija Cave, which tells the historical story of the evolution of Neanderthals towards modern man, is considered a valuable geological, geomorphological and botanical monument of nature. The ancient remains found date back to the Paleolithic to the early Middle Ages, and skeletal remains indicate that the cave was used for living and as a hiding place for forty thousand years BC.