The University of Leicester is replacing and upgrading ageing microscopes, spectrometers, and other analytical instruments in its archaeology materials labs to keep its heritage science research internationally competitive. These tools are essential for studying the physical and chemical makeup of ancient objects—pottery, metals, stone tools, pigments, and manuscripts. Without them, researchers cannot determine where raw materials came from, how objects were made, or how they changed over time. The current equipment is failing, which threatens ongoing projects that range from mapping the history of materials between 3000 and 600 BC to analysing the earliest evidence for tin working in Britain, understanding ceramic assemblages from Islamic Spain and Qatar, and visualising the colours of Anglo-Saxon sculptures. If the upgrade succeeds, the labs will continue producing high-quality data on past technologies, trade networks, and cultural change. The equipment will also be made available to museums across the Midlands and neighbouring regions, and to doctoral students funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. This is primarily fundamental research into human history, but the analytical techniques and digital methods developed here also feed into conservation practice, museum curation, and forensic science.
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The University of Leicester has an urgent need to replace and upgrade essential research equipment in the materials laboratories within the School of Archaeology and Ancient History. The equipment requested in this call will upgrade capabilities in spectroscopy and petrography, use wear analysis of tools, digitisation of materials and archaeological sites, and expand our mobile laboratories and sample preparation facilities, enabling the continued delivery of leading edge heritage science. The new institutional strategy of the University of Leicester, shaped by our ambition as Citizens of Change, focusses attention on one of our research strengths: Culture and Heritage. This proposal reflects our goals, and will benefit both from distinctive strengths in Archaeology and Ancient History and from wider institutional expertise and research partnerships in heritage science with staff in the College of Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities and the College of Science and Engineering. To illustrate, this proposal is energetically supported by the School of History, Politics and International Relationships, by the School of Chemistry and by the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment. The new equipment used by our expert staff at the University, will enhance current and future projects to map a history of materials from 3000-600 BC, to analyse the earliest evidence for tin working in Britain, to understand ceramic assemblages of Islamisation in Spain and Qatar, to explain urban transformation processes in the Roman world and in post-medieval Britain, to visualise the colours of Anglo-Saxon sculptures and to learn the composition of inks of medieval manuscripts. The University of Leicester's institutional commitment to heritage science is demonstrated through our investments in people, physical infrastructure and equipment. By way of exemplars: we have appointed investment posts in the School of Museum Studies and in Archaeology and Ancient History; research spaces within the Schools of Museum Studies and Ancient History and Archaeology have been transformed through a major refurbishment programme in the past year; and we have ring-fenced £632k to develop a clean laboratory to establish the institution as an international leader in forensic and ancient biomolecule research. This proposal complements institutional investment in a substantive way, ensuring our materials research continues to be internationally-leading and increasing our capability and capacity in this area through the replacement and upgrade of ailing infrastructure. The equipment requested in the bid and the expertise available across the University will make available a precious and relatively inexpensive set of scientific and digital resources to the heritage sector of the Midlands and neighbouring regions, as shown in the range of local and regional museums currently engaged by scholars at the University of Leicester. The School of Archaeology and Ancient History has established procedures to sustain and manage the equipment provided and we will make it available to internal and external users, visiting scholars, with a special access policy in place for AHRC-funded M4C students, as part of our commitment to the Midlands and beyond in training the next generation of heritage scientists.
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