Case Studies
Client
14,000 year old artefact made into a hologram
Project
Llangollen Museum, working in partnership with a number of other museums across north Wales and View Holographics in St Asaph, have been successful in obtaining funding from the Esmee Fairburn Foundation to create a new programme 'Bringing the Artefacts Back to the People'. Despite a willingness to lend, there can be issues involved in smaller museums seeking to borrow objects on loan due to security and environmental constraints. This programme will seek to use a pioneering 'holographic imaging technology' to demonstrate a practical way to address this problem.
Hologram specialists, View Holographics will utilise its unique colour laser recording technology (the only one in the UK) to create a series of stunning full colour analogue holograms of artefacts that can be displayed for public use. These holograms are the closest reproduction you can possibly achieve to the real life object, more accurate than any photography or computer render.
One of the first artefacts to benefit under this new scheme is a 14,000 year old decorated horse jaw bone from the ice age. The bone was discovered in Kendrick's Cave in Llandudno, North Wales and is the only piece of artwork dated to the end of the last Ice Age or Late Glacial period in Britain. It was dug up by chance by Thomas Kendrick in 1880, but its age and significance have only recently been recognised. Acquired by the British Museum in 1959, the jaw bone has recently been on loan to Llandudno Museum.
The jaw bone was recorded on April 21st 2009 by the Centre for Modern Optics at Optic Technium. Jill Cook, Deputy Keeper of Prehistory and Early Europe at the British Museum attended the recording in St Asaph and said “The British Museum is committed to sharing the collection as widely as possible in the UK and across the world. This new technology provides another opportunity for people to engage with the collection, it is an important step to wider access”.
Simon Cotton, Sales & Marketing Director for View Holographics commented “ Advances in technology allow holography to become an affordable alternative. We can produce multiple copies which are ideal for touring shows and archiving”.
The project involves collaboration between a number of major museums – the National Museum of Wales, the British Museum, the Maritime Museum in Liverpool – as well as the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales. It is anticipated that holograms of all the relevant artefacts will be completed by the end of 2009. Everything will then be combined into a travelling exhibition that will tour around north Wales and the borders, starting at Llangollen Museum in June 2010 and including the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, Wrexham Museum, Llandudno Museum, Bangor Museum and the Oriel Gallery Llangefni amongst others.
