Italian CHT2 researchers have been busy digitizing the remains of the Roman Circus in Milan. You can read about their work here: June news from Milan.
All posts by Jon Mills
New funding for CHT2 UK case study
Newcastle University has been successful in securing additional funding to continue the CHT2 UK case study on Hadrian’s Wall. Approximately £75k of funding has been secured from the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Iapetus Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) in partnership with English Heritage and Historic England. The PhD, entitled “Assessing and predicting natural environmental impacts on cultural heritage landscapes: a case study on Hadrian’s Wall” will commence in September 2017 and run for 3.5 years. The new research programme will overlap with the closing stages of the current JPI-CH project, funded in the UK by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), building on the legacy of CHT2. The overall aim of the new programme is to assess the vulnerability of tangible cultural heritage to natural hazards under a changing climate regime, demonstrating this on an iconic monument of international renown.
New team member for CHT2
Last week the CHT2 project welcomed its newest member, when Karolina Fieber gave birth to Baby Emilian Amram. Emilian was born at 20:31 on Tuesday 11th April 2017 and weighed in at 3.3 kg. Congratulations to Karolina and Jake on the expansion of their family, from everyone involved in the project!
CHT2 at 3D-Arch 2017 conference
As well as organising a project meeting at 3d-Arch, the CHT2 project was also well represented in the technical programme. The conference, which took place in Nafplio, Greece, from 1st to 3rd March included an oral presentation by the USAL unit on the CHT2 methodology. The POLIMI (below) and NCL groups also presented poster presentations on their case studies. Papers are available in the Resources section of the website.
Presentation of 4D reconstruction of the roman circus in Milan #CHT2 #3DARCH @Heritage_Portal @CIPAHeritageDOC pic.twitter.com/XuuQ8b8gBb
— Gabriele Guidi (@Nexus6it) March 2, 2017
CHT2 at Brussels JPI Parade
CHT2 Project Leader Gabriele Guidi (Italy) and Jon Mills (UK) attended the JPI-CH parade in Brussels on Tuesday 21 February.
CHT2 UK meeting with stakeholders, English Heritage and Historic England
Members of the CHT2 UK team today met with representatives of English Heritage and Historic England, Mark Douglas and Paul Bryan, at Newcastle University. The purpose of the meeting was to update the stakeholders on progress made at the three Hadrian’s Wall study sites: Beckfoot, Birdoswald and Corbridge. Of particular interest to all were the results at Corbridge, and it was agreed to focus further on this site, acquiring further data from the English Heritage Archives in Swindon. The team also thanked Karolina Fieber for her hard work as she prepares to leave the CHT2 project to have a baby in April – thanks, Karolina, and all best wishes for the future from everyone involved in CHT2!
Massive Online Open Course – Hadrian’s Wall: life on the Roman frontier
More than 6000 on-line “students” have joined the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) on Hadrian’s Wall, which starts today. The online course runs for six weeks and explores the archaeology of the most heavily fortified frontier in the Roman Empire, its people and their lives. Led by CHT2 Co-Investigator, Professor Ian Haynes of Newcastle University, the MOOC will feature the CHT2 project in Week Three. You can sign up to the MOOC at https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/hadrians-wall.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Survey of Beckfoot, Hadrian’s Wall, UK
The Hadrian’s Wall case study took a step forward today when the British weather finally allowed the UK team to undertake an UAV survey at Beckfoot, Cumbria. A Quest300 fixed-wing UAV (pictured), owned by Newcastle University, was used for the survey. With a maximum 15-minute flight time, the Beckfoot area was divided into two overlapping parts (north and south) and surveyed under two separate sorties. Supporting ground operations took place simultaneously and the survey data will be augmented by archaeological excavations and geophysical survey, including gradiometry and resistivity, surveys previously conducted in June.
CHT2 Spain meeting with Ávila Town Hall
Mrs Rosa Entrecanales, responsible for the Heritage Area in Ávila Town Hall, welcomed us. The Town Hall, in charge of approving and awarding licences to undertake work in heritage buildings, through its representative advised us in reference to the location of historical information, particularly technical plans. This information included the citadel plans located in the General Archive of Simancas, dated to the XVIII century, where ancient buildings and structures, as the alhóndiga (cereal warehouse and selling point) or the barbican appear. Here we have one of the main challenges of this project, which is how to merge historical and current graphic sources.
CHT2 Spain meeting with the Principal of the Historic Archive in Avila
The principal, Mrs Carmen López Sanchidrian welcomed us. We put across the main purposes of the CHT2 project and she gave us the keys to find out proper information about the study area (Alcázar gate and its surroundings) in the Archive. She also explained some crucial aspects about property rights. Since our interests were specially focussed on graphic information, her advice was helpful. After a comprehensive review of different collections of paintings, engravings and photographs a suitable selection was done. Moreover, we contact with IPCE (National Heritage Institute) to query high quality copies of some documents not available in Ávila.
