A Digital centre to provide ‘one stop shop’ for heritage professionals and hobbyists to learn about historic objects is to open in Manchester following the announcement of funding for a new £1m centre for digital modelling and analysis for the conservation and heritage science sector.
Heritage organisations of any size will be able to bring their heritage artefacts to a new digital centre based at Manchester Met’s PrintCity where a range of imaging, scanning, and x-ray equipment will be able to pinpoint the origins of each piece of potential treasure.
From the date it was made to the composition of its material, and even the location in the world it was used, the state-of-the art equipment will be able to identify each object with unprecedented precision – and with the capability of building replica 3D models with sub-millimetre accuracy.
The centre is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund. It will be the first of its kind, providing a ‘one stop shop’ to access these expensive and specialist techniques.
While similar technology exists in isolation, it is restricted to large national museums and institutions. Manchester Met’s new facility will bring together multiple complementary techniques, and by adopting a tiered access model, will open the doors to community groups, researchers and professionals alike, and allowing the recording and analysis of heritage objects at any size and scale, all in one place.
The centre is expected to open in late 2025 and will be supported by a dedicated Technical Facility Manager and researchers who will work with our specialist equipment including ‘hyperspectral imaging’ to analyse the chemical composition of materials such as pigments and dyes, ‘computed x-ray tomography’ to build a 3D image of the inside of artefacts, and laser scanning to construct detailed and precise 3D models.
Investment in the facility comes courtesy of the AHRC’s new Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme, a new programme to promote excellence in the UK heritage science sector.
Ben Edwards, Reader in Heritage and Archaeology at Manchester Met and centre director, said: “We’re incredibly excited about the possibilities for this new facility. For the first time ever, we want to design a low-cost model for access where community groups, volunteer archaeological societies, and staff at small museums and galleries will be able to come and get a full picture of their object, artefact or historical remains.
“Our extensive equipment, which will all be based at Manchester Met’s PrintCity, will allow us to look at what each object is made up of, both on the surface and internally, and literally characterise the entire object.
“What this means for old paintings or pots, for example, is that we can identify a certain pigment or glaze that was only used in a particular period in a certain region. There will be no restrictions on the types of artefacts we can analyse – be it fine art or archaeological discoveries like ancient bones.
“The possibilities for researchers, enthusiasts, the heritage and conservation sector, and the general public are endless.”
