The funding will be used for two heritage science projects that will be led by Newcastle University and will strengthen the University’s expertise in innovative archaeological materials science and digital heritage research.

The Newcastle Material Culture Analytical Suite (NeMCAS) has been awarded £1M to develop its facilities to increase capacity and broaden the range of specialist analysis that can be carried out. The funding will also support new lab spaces and a new high-performance computing suite which will be equipped to work with the large data files involved in CT imaging and analysis for heritage science applications.

Launched in 2022 through UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) Capability for Collections, NeMCAS builds on a decade of strategic development at Newcastle spanning landscape and material culture research, and partnership with the Great North Museum. NeMCAS is the only such facility in the North East, and one of only a handful nationally. With a world-leading team working on all aspects of archaeological materials science and landscape archaeology, it has supported projects funded by UKRI, EU Commission, and the Wellcome Trust, and stimulated innovative new approaches in archaeology, biology and engineering.

Professor Lisa-Marie Shillito, NeMCAS Director and Professor of Geoarchaeology, said: “This £1M investment represents a significant step change for NeMCAS and means we can broaden the range of materials we can work with, and allow us to carry out automated scanning of high-demand objects, more than doubling our current capacity.

“With this funding, NeMCAS will provide access to cutting edge analytical equipment and expertise, optimised for heritage materials, allowing us to develop a humanities-led analytical facility that offers a ‘one-stop’ service for the heritage research community. We are looking forward to helping grow the heritage sector in the North East as well as supporting all the great research being done by colleagues at Newcastle.”  

The other project to benefit is the ‘Transforming Access to Mediterranean Cultural Heritage Science Collections’. Working with the British International Research Institutes (BIRI), specifically the British School at Athens, British School at Rome and British Institute at Ankara, the team will create a new research and teaching platform to ensure diverse and previously inaccessible heritage science data collections created by BIRI are freely available to researchers, students and cultural heritage organisations, as well as to the wider public.

The new resource will result in a standards-based heritage science infrastructure that is built on linked open data services and will evolve as new scientific and ethnographic work is undertaken.

Professor Mark Jackson said: “Newcastle has a long tradition of working with our BIRI partners, so we are delighted to be once again working closely with colleagues in Athens, Rome and Ankara to deliver this exciting project to make these internationally significant heritage science collections more easily accessible to wider audiences. This new infrastructure will transform the potential of BIRI’s research, ensure that collections are freely accessible to all, and offer exceptional opportunities for understanding the human past in the Mediterranean.”

Both projects are among 31 across the UK that will share £37 million from the first tranche of awards through the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme, funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund.

Heritage science is uniquely interdisciplinary and crosses over with art history, engineering, analytical chemistry and material science. The RICHeS headquarters will be based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Daresbury Laboratory to ensure that the benefits of heritage science become a critical driver of research and innovation in science and technology.

Head of the RICHeS programme Professor Meggen Gondek said: “The launch of the RICHeS programme is raising the bar for heritage science globally. It signals a new era where art, culture and science unite to stimulate skills, growth and opportunity. It will secure the UK’s position of excellence in the field and help foster world-class collaborations at both national and international levels.”

AHRC Executive Chair, Professor Christopher Smith said: “The UK has a rich and unparalleled cultural heritage and is a global leader in the science of heritage conservation. By investing in heritage science, we are not only unleashing new understanding about our cultural assets but boosting a world-leading heritage economy that will benefit us all.

“Using the latest technology and scientific equipment, this programme will support access to heritage collections, grow the UK’s heritage economy and drive technological innovation in areas such as material science. Placing this work in Daresbury increases the chance of the spillover effects we have already demonstrated.”