As a result, a conference was held at Creswell in 2004 and the proceedings have been published as “Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context” by Oxford University Press edited by Paul Pettitt, Paul Bahn and Sergio Ripoll.

An article on the use of 3D laser scanning to record some of the carvings within Church Hole has been written by Alistair Carty, Technical Director of Archaeoptics, with several illustrations of the scan results from Church Hole.

More information on the proceedings including a full table of contents and ordering information can be found at the OUP website.

The project revolves around the non-contact, high-quality reproduction of several key pieces from the NMS’ collection of Isle of Lewis (or Uig) Chessmen. These reproductions are now available for purchase in the NMS’ shop.

Photograph of the horseman

Render of the horseman

Replica of the horseman

To date, we have produced 4 replica pieces, a king, queen, horseman (pictured) and bishop. A berserker and warder pieces have also been scanned and will be in production shortly.

One of the earliest major portions of the ship that was discovered was a carving depicting a male figure in neo-classical dress holding aloft in his left hand what appears to be a laurel wreath. A flag or pennant is carved just to the side of this, directly above a semi-circular window head. This highly decorated window head would have been the stern window of the captain’s lavatory in the port stern gallery.

The figure would originally have been on the upper port side of the stern immediately to the port side of a round-headed window opening. The carving is over 3.30m tall and is carved from several pieces of elm.

HMS Colossus stern figure face close-up

HMS Colossus stern figure face close-up

This figure was raised by Mac Mace and Kevin Camidge and taken to the Mary Rose Trust for conservation.

Recently, in conjunction with on-going recording by Mary Rose Archaeological Services and Kevin Camidge, we have undertaken high-resolution 3D laser scanning of the figure as part of the recording process prior to conservation.

The stern carving is currently undergoing conservation at the Mary Rose Trust in Portsmouth. Once conservation is completed, the carving will be returned to Scilly and displayed with the Valhalla figurehead collection in the Abbey Gardens, Tresco.

Working for the University Heritage Office, we completed the 3D laser scanning of all visible portions of the stones in a mere 5 days.

Laser Scanning Ogam stone 4 at UCC

Flashing forward to 2006, the Ogam & carved stones conservation project is well underway and the stones have been removed from UCC for consolidation and cleaning. During this process, we revisited Cork to acquire data from the backs and bases of the stones previously not visible. All the stones are now back on display in a new layout with new interpretation, fibre-optic lighting and multimedia presentation.

Our work now forms a complete 3-dimensional record of the stones for archival purposes. Future interpretation and display uses are planned also.

Images reproduced courtesy of University College Cork.

The Trust’s interest in 3D scanning was piqued regarding the ability to accurately record the sculpture in their current condition and also examine the fine masons’ marks in more detail. Our test was undertaken using our old scanning system (sold in 2002). Our current scanning system would produce even higher quality results than those shown below. Given the current interest in all things Rosslyn, we’ve negotiated with the Rosslyn Chapel Trust to release these images.

Higher resolution images are available for download. Please contact us for more details. A fee will be levied which was be donated to the Rosslyn Chapel Trust.

Robert the Bruce from Rosslyn Chapel

Teardrop and masons’ marks from Rosslyn Chapel

In a nutshell, the scanner is capable of 1000 points/second, +/-6mm accuracy at 50m, 3mrad @ 100m resolution and has ranging capability of up to 350m using OverScan. The scanner has a 360×60 degree field of view from a single station.

For examples of work undertaken with this scanner, see Brodick Castle Survey Completed, 3D Laser Scanning at Callanish Stone Circle and National Archaeology Day at Rievaulx Abbey.

The two sites in question were the Pictish cross slab located in Fordoun and the Lang Stane of Auquhollie, near Stonehaven.

The slab at Fordoun features an inscription on the top-left corner and also two putative Ogham inscriptions, one down each side. All three inscriptions were scanned at extremely high resolution to help establish their meaning.

The Lang Stane was also completely scanned with extremely high resolution scanning used on the long Ogham inscription down one arris and on a section of the stone thought to feature two Pictish “double-disc” symbols. After visualisation, it was determined that the two symbols were in fact a single lobed “rectangle” symbol.

Fordoun Pictish Cross Slab

Lang Stane of Auquhollie Pictish symbol

New 3D reconstructions of the type specimens of Charnia, Charniodiscus, Bradgatia and Ivesheadia raise questions about the currently mooted taxonomy, palaeobiology and ecology of these early Ediacaran fossils.

Charnia P80 Fern Fossil