Southampton Archaeologists and Engineers Get a New Perspective on Unexcavated Artifacts
Archaeology News
There is an archaeological adage that says that “excavation is destruction.” Digging into ancient strata to examine buried artifacts is considered an important but irreversible process. A team of archaeologists and engineers at the University of Southampton brings that importance into question.
The Southampton and British Museum team has developed a means of scanning and visualizing buried artifacts using X-ray imaging originally designed for use with mechanical engineering projects. The team scanned 2nd and 3rd century C.E. artifacts including a cremation urn and a concreted hoard of Roman gold coins weighing over 200 pounds. By taking thousands of pictures while rotating the angle 360 degrees, the project was able to read inscriptions and view the faces on coins still unexcavated inside an urn.
Interested in modern archaeological technology? Researchers at the UCSD’s Calit2 laboratory released the free BAS eBook Cyber-Archaeology in the Holy Land — The Future of the Past, featuring 21st-century research on GPS, Light Detection and Ranging Laser Scanning, unmanned aerial drones, 3D artifact scans, CAVE visualization environments and much more.
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