The authors of this chapter were involved in designing and constructing a multimedia system about the Scandinavia Bronze Age (on other ideas for multimedia applications in archaeology, see Chapter 12). The system was an advanced prototype, but near completion enough for us to be able to set it up in the museum and test user reactions. One of us was responsible for the graphics, the other for design and programming.

The system is implemented in Supercard 1.5. The design is complete, but at present the system only contains information about 70 items. It was tested at the local museum for a week. Two observers surveyed the users from an adjoining room; in addition, visitors to the museum guests were asked to fill in a questionnaire, and tape-recorded interviews were made on the spot. The system is in 8-bit color, so the black/white screen dumps in this section give only a partial impression of the real system.

The main system is for browsing and consists of four windows:

1. (1) A Map of Denmark and southern Sweden displaying locations of excavation sites.

2. (2) An imaginary Landscape. A drawing depicting an artist's view of how Bronze Age man might have viewed nature and society.

3. (3) A Color Photo window displaying color photos of archaeological finds.

4. (4) A Verbal Information window, with texts explaining the contents of the landscape and the photo window. The window also contains sound: the written texts are spoken, and the window provides samples of Bronze Age music.