Hypothetical Cultural Heritage and its users : challenges in the interpretation and communication through verbal and visual methods

The documentation and visualisation of digital 3D models related to hypothetical artefacts can be useful to analyse our past and make new discoveries, but can also be informative in educational contexts and when dealing, more in general, with non-specialised users. The publication of these models in web-based and open platforms, which would be a good practice, especially raises some questions related to the audience we refer to. This paper analyses the issue of communication of digital reconstructions and tries to give some answers to it by presenting a methodology through a case study and by indicating future developments.