RTISAD

We in the Archaeological Computing Research Group and School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton have a project in collaboration with the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents and the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford to publicise the Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI) technology, to apply it in the recording and analysis of many document and artefact types, and to develop new hardware and software. The investigators are:

• Graeme Earl (ACRG, Southampton)
• Alan Bowman (CSAD, Oxford)
• Charles Crowther (CSAD, Oxford)
• Jacob Dahl (Oriental Studies, Oxford)
• Kirk Martinez (ECS, Southampton)

The Arts and Humanities Research Council funded this research. In addition to the British Library we have been working with many partners on this project, including the British Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Liverpool Museums, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology, National Archives, English Heritage, National Gallery, Louvre, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Southampton Museums, Portable Antiquities Scheme, University of Cambridge Faculty of Classics, and many others.

Goals

1. Set up two RTI capture hubs at Southampton and Oxford
2. Develop identical RTI capture systems for each hub that will be easy for many others to produce themselves
3. Pilot the systems on inscribed ancient documents, and some archaeological artefacts
4. Develop and employ tools for annotating and analysing RTI data
5. Provide free access to outputs, designs of capture systems and software
6. Develop prototype long-term archiving solutions for RTI
7. Raise awareness of RTI in research and public communities in the UK