Friday 25 October 2013

Participate in Public Conservation! Solve the Pictish Puzzle!

Are you interested in archaeology and/or conservation?  Do you like solving puzzles?  If you have answered yes to any of these questions, the next time you find yourself sitting in front of a computer use your puzzle solving skills to help out archaeologists at the National Museums Scotland!

Recent excavations at the original site of the Hilton of Cadboll Stone have resulted in the discovery of 3,000 miscellaneous fragments from the bottom of the stone.  The completed upper portion is currently on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburg, and has a Pictish carving on one side, dating to around 800 AD, and a 17th century memorial to a man and his three wives carved into the other side.  In an excellent example of public outsourcing for conservation efforts, archaeologists are asking the public to help them reconstruct the bottom portion of the stone out of the 3000 fragments.  Each fragment has been 3D scanned to create a digital image that can then be manipulated and compared on participants' computers.

The site goes live TODAY, 25 October!  Visit http://www.pictishpuzzle.co.uk/, and get involved in an excellent program of public conservation.

For more information, see:  http://www.chauvetdreams.co.uk/archaeologists-want-you-to-solve-this-1200-year-old-pictish-puzzle/

or visit:  http://www.nms.ac.uk/collections__research/glenmorangie_research_project/pictish_puzzle.aspx

1 comment:

  1. I really love this initative!

    However, I falsely believed (based on my memory of being good at puzzles as a kid) that I would not fail at this. Big mistake! Fitting the pieces together turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. It's kind of addicting though, so I'm going to keep on trying!

    Has anyone made a match yet?

    ReplyDelete

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