Since Henri Lefebvre's groundbreaking book, awareness has spread in archaeological research that built space is far more than a sterile, museum-like and unchanging container of human activity, but rather an entity that is constantly built and reconstructed by human actors and their practices. Since then, numerous studies have been published that have focused on the ways in which certain architectural spaces have been lived, especially with regard to (human) movement and perception as fundamental categories of such practices. These studies have always been most valuable when the research was based on transdisciplinary collaboration.

The proposed panel, which brings together researchers from Classical Archaeology, Building Research, Digital Design Studies and Psychology, is therefore dedicated to a critical engagement with digital methods that help modern research to ›enliven‹ ancient spaces. In contrast to the way such methods have mostly been used – as a means of testing pre-existing hypotheses – the assembled contributions aim to show how digital methods can provide a framework for generating new ideas about the use and thus construction of ancient spaces.

In order to show as broad a spectrum as possible, five different approaches to enlivening ancient spaces are gathered here: Mixed reality technologies, serious gaming, deep mapping, eye tracking and daylight simulation. All of these methods are used by proven (international) experts in the field. Each of the presentations will be given by a transdisciplinary team that is in charge of an ongoing project. The time frame ranges from the Greek (Hellenistic) to the Roman (Imperial) periods and covers contexts in the Western and Eastern Mediterranean alike. The architectures studied include interiors (houses) and exteriors (sanctuaries). They cover a wide range of ancient practices that can be associated with them, including ritual actions in mystery initiation, healing and festivals and everyday practices.