Biocultural heritage - the physical remains of ancient humans, animals, plants and landscapes, as well as material and visual culture - is an important resource. It represents tangible evidence for human interactions with the natural world, biodiversity, food systems, human-animal-environmental health, and exploitation of organic raw materials. As such, there is a growing recognition that interdisciplinary studies of biocultural heritage can help address modern global challenges, all of which are fundamentally cultural with deep histories. Yet biocultural heritage is a finite resource and one that is under threat. At the landscape scale, climate change is endangering heritage sites. Museum collections are being impacted by the curation crisis, which is seeing materials refused accession or deaccessioned without record. But there is also a significant threat to biocultural heritage from the research practices of scientists themselves. Advances in archaeological science are seeing increasing quantities of material targeted for destructive analyses (e.g. aDNA, proteomics, isotopes, radiocarbon dating, organic residue analysis, and histology). Whilst such individual analyses generate transformative results, our networks and research partners (including national institutions, museum curators, archives, community archaeology groups and commercial units) have raised ethical issues associated with the destruction of biocultural heritage. They have highlighted the overwhelming need for: 1) specimens to be preserved by 3D record; 2) scans to be made available for future analyses; 3) data from destructive analysis to be linked to 3D records in a way that is accessible to curators and broader research communities both in the UK and abroad. The last is particularly important to ensure that materials are not repeatedly sampled by different research groups and so that independent lines of evidence can be brought together. To address these issues of collections preservation, storage and accessibility the Biocultural HIVE will: Upgrade our existing physical archive space to better accommodate our own nationally important biocultural collections and provide appropriate environmentally controlled temporary storage for materials being analysed by our CResCa-funded digital imaging facility, SHArD-3D. 2. Create a new laboratory space so that researchers can access, and have space to study, our permanent and temporary collections. 3. Collate and standardise the large quantities of 3D and analytical data from our SHArD-3D collaborations and international UKRI, Wellcome Trust and ERC projects. 4. Use the data generated by point 3) to create and test an open-access, continuously updateable, digital repository (rather than closed-dataset repositories e.g. Archaeology Data Service) for the curation and sharing of digital 3D files and other analytical results. 5. Drawing on expertise from the UKRI funded GLAM-E we will embed ethical data practices into our digital platforms and co-create appropriate open-access policies with our partners. 6. Employ a Database Manager to 1) liaise with stakeholders and 2) populate and maintain the repository with the ultimate intention of migrating it to the RICHeS Digital Research Service at Daresbury, so that it is sustainable beyond the life of the project. This resource will benefit the heritage science community and provide researchers with the ability to deposit, update, and access collections/data on an unprecedented scale. Beyond this it will create a new research platform for data mining, the application of deep-learning technologies, and ensure we are delivering world-leading heritage science.

The archaeological human remains collection is the most intensively researched part of the Scottish History and Archaeology (SHA) collections at National Museums Scotland (NMS). Regularly featuring in wide-ranging and high-impact osteoarchaeological and biomolecular studies, the remains contribute to collaborative and innovative national and international narratives about the human past in Scotland and the wider world. Research interest in the collections is growing. However, the facilities to meet research demand are significantly lacking, with limited space for collections and researchers, no equipment to enable onsite sampling, no centralised data repository and no dedicated specialist staff member supporting research access and development. As a result, staff capacity for facilitating research requests is limited and collections are frequently sent offsite for external analysis, which puts them at risk in transit. Additionally, there is presently no established pathway for allocation and storage of excavated human burials in Scotland, representing a systemic issue for the Scottish heritage sector. In direct response to these challenges, this project will establish Scotland's Archaeological Human Remains Collection (SAHRC) at the National Museums Collections Centre (NMCC), in partnership with Historic Environment Scotland (HES). There will be three core objectives: Increase capacity to meet the demand from researchers in the UK and beyond to access and analyse the Scottish archaeological human remains collection Develop the capability to share the research data from these collections for wider impact Provide leadership for the Scottish heritage sector on the ethical care, curation and research of Scottish archaeological human remains through collaboration with regional and local partners. The funding allocated will enable the extension and enhancement of existing human remains storage at the NMCC in Edinburgh by increasing storage capacity by 70% and providing dedicated layout space for researchers. The new space will hold NMS' existing collections and accommodate those currently held in temporary storage by Historic Environment Scotland (HES) at various locations, inaccessible to researchers. Increasing accessibility is a core principle of the project and fundamental for the responsible curation of this collection. Additionally, the capital funding will secure essential research equipment, including a fume hood for sampling material for scientific analyses, and state-of-the-art visualisation equipment enabling the effective scientific research of these collections on site. The RICHeS Curator of Osteoarchaeology, a specialist full-time role, will support the curation, management and access of these collections and as the first such dedicated osteoarchaeological post in a museum in Scotland will provide curatorial support across the sector. The development of the SAHRC will be supported and informed by an advisory board and network of specialists from across the UK. Crucially, the study of human remains is used to inform our understanding of topics such as migration, disease and diet, which have great relevance to the modern socio-political environment. Enabling greater research access will thus improve our understanding of these topics, which can feed into the museum's dissemination of knowledge to our diverse global audiences, while feeding into sector-wide approaches to these topics within a cohesive and meaningful research strategy. Overall, the approach proposed, combining infrastructure expansion and partnership, will enable the development of ethical collections care and research standards, and enhance research access to this important scientific collection, as well as providing the opportunity to advance the research capacity of collections across Scotland.

The project's objective is to harness digital tools from different fields to transform scholarly and popular understanding of Ogham - an ancient script unique to Ireland and Britain. At a more general level, it provides a potential model of collaborative ways of working to ensure the long-term sustainability, continued development, and inter-operability of diverse digital resources for multi-disciplinary humanities research. It addresses the challenge of giving continued and renewed life to existing digital resources beyond the end of individual funded projects by integrating them with new data created using subsequent technological and intellectual advances. Through collaborative working, resource-sharing and skills-exchange the project will strengthen partnerships between academia, museums, libraries, and state heritage agencies across all 6 nations in the UK, Ireland and Man. It will also contribute to Europe-wide collaboration in digital epigraphy and place Ogham in the vanguard of global epigraphical studies. Ogham is highly unusual among world writing systems. It entirely lacks iconicity: like a barcode, it consists solely of a succession of straight lines. It is read vertically and is written in 3 dimensions across the edge of a solid object (using letters which consist of bundles of 1-5 short parallel lines, their value depending on their position relative to a baseline). Its heyday was the 1st Millenium CE, but knowledge of it never died out. Texts written in this ingenious script are of international significance to historical linguists as the earliest evidence for the Gaelic languages. We will digitally document all c.640 examples of Ogham writing in all media, from its origin in the fourth century CE until the dawn of the modern revival c.1850. We will build on the success of the 'Ogham in 3D' website (2012-15, 2016-17), created by our partner organisations, the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, the Discovery Programme, and the National Monuments Service which covers c.25% of surviving ogham and provides detailed supporting information, photographs, & 3D models. We will upgrade its data and metadata, enhance its searchability, and greatly expand its thematic, chronological & geographical scope by including Oghams from the whole island of Ireland (i.e. including Northern Ireland) and from outside Ireland. The latter - from Scotland, Wales, Man, England, and Continental libraries - comprise almost a third of the total surviving. We will also move beyond stone monuments to include portable objects, graffiti, and manuscripts. We will document in 3D all Ogham in the collections of the national museums (the British Museum; the National Museums of Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales; and the Manx Museum), with the support of state heritage agencies in 4 countries. Additional joint fieldwork in all six nations will allow us to more than treble the number of 3D models available to nearly 80% of the corpus. Uniting this scattered evidence will transform Ogham studies, and connect local communities with their heritage. We will work with the Discovery Programme to evaluate the effectiveness of different methods of 3D recording and visualization, and use for analysis techniques hitherto used only for documentation. We will refine new methods of digital groove analysis (to identify the work of individual carvers and establish the contemporaneity of different carvings) and digital reconstruction of worn detail. We will conduct analysis based on the new documentation, using analogue and new digital techniques, including computational corpus linguistics. The enduring social value of Ogham is reflected in its increasing popularity for decorative, symbolic, and creative functions. The project will support this use of Ogham in contemporary culture by responding to the need for authoritative guidance on writing accurate and authentic Ogham, and by inspiring new & innovative applications and artistic responses.

Over 130 military museums in the UK preserve the historical collections of British regiments, corps and services. Their collections contain artefacts acquired by British servicemen in colonial warfare and on imperial garrison duties across the globe, variously acquired as trophies, prize, souvenirs, curios and specimens. These artefacts are little known outside the constituency of military history and within their current institutions rarely researched in reference to their complex intercultural biographies. Focussing on military campaigns in India and Africa from 1750 to 1900, this project will undertake an interdisciplinary reappraisal of military collections. By tracing collections histories through archival evidence it will both investigate the meaning of non-European artefacts in military organisational culture and their value as material witnesses of encounters between non-European peoples and imperial forces. Research questions include: 1. What does the pattern of taking, recording and modification of objects tell us about the characteristics of British military collecting in the context of colonial and imperial warfare? 2. How does a more nuanced analysis of the transference of objects in war revise our understanding of colonial and post-colonial relationships? 3. How did military governance, cultural sanction and contingency work to establish boundaries around the taking and disposal of objects? 4. How can we address the tensions between the original communal role of these military collections and their contemporary function in public military museums? The material legacy of non-European military campaigns in military and non-military museums is widespread, yet the systematic understanding of this legacy is virtually absent from the analytical and historical literature. Military collecting offers an under-developed source for critically reappraising the linkages between museum collections and imperial history in the post-colonial period. Colonial African and Indian campaigns (estimated as 60-70% of total non-European collections) will be tracked through multiple military museum collections examined in tandem with institutional records, archives, registers, as well as biographies, diaries and photographs related to individual collectors. An in-depth examination of objects and documents will deliver a more multifaceted understanding of military governance, communal military culture and individual agency. The project will highlight hidden histories of taking and retention, going beyond the simplistic view of all such military artefacts as 'loot'. This revisionist approach will allow comparisons across former European imperial powers of a complex and controversial topic. It will enable a critical reassessment of the relevance of these collecting practices and material legacies today. The multidisciplinary project team at National Museums Scotland (NMS) will be supported by an academic and museum-based Advisory Board drawn from the fields of visual and museum anthropology, military history, military anthropology and archaeology. Comparative analysis will draw on research from previous pilot projects undertaken on campaigns in Tibet, China, New Zealand and North America. The National Army Museum (NAM), the project partner, also holds extensive collections and has the wider networks (including the Army Museums Ogilby Trust) to assist with the delivery of knowledge exchange workshops and the organisation of the international seminar. Outputs will include two knowledge exchange workshops, an international seminar, a special exhibition (National War Museum, National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh), enhanced gallery interpretation (National Army Museum, London; National Museum of Scotland and National War Museum, Edinburgh), community engagement, online features and pdf catalogue information, and 3-4 publications (articles and a book in addition to non-refereed articles).

The study of ancient biomolecules (DNA, proteins, lipids) has revolutionised our understanding of the past and is one of the fastest growing areas of heritage science (HS). The UK is world-leading in this area and the University of York's BioArCh research centre has spearheaded the innovation and application of molecular methods to archaeological remains and museum specimens for two decades. Working with partners has been key to our success. We have a long history of offering services to archaeological units, museums and academic institutions, however, the major challenge is that as biomolecular methods become more routinely applied, demand for access has never been higher, vastly surpassing what we can offer. Our vision is to dramatically increase the UK's biomolecular archaeology capacity by expanding our facilities and automating workflows to meet current and future demands of the HS community. We require infrastructure investment to (i) expand our clean rooms, a key requirement for avoiding modern contamination; (ii) automate laboratory procedures, and (iii) enhance our sample tracking, data management and reporting systems; enabling us to scale up to meet future demand. Working with RICHeS headquarters, we intend to offer a catalogue of services to encompass the analysis of proteins, DNA, isotopes and lipids from archaeological remains. To reach new audiences and enable access, we will publicise our services by creating short videos highlighting potential applications, offer online presentations direct to end-users and train English Heritage (EH) and Historic Environment Scotland (HES) science advisors. Additionally, we wish to invest in new and emerging transformative techniques so they can be offered to the heritage science community, drawing upon our internationally recognised research and the University's Centre of Excellence in Mass Spectrometry (CoEMS). These include sex determination through faster analysis of tooth enamel proteins, a rapid method for the taxonomic identification of lipids associated with artefacts, and detailed identification of proteins in mineralised deposits from artefacts and dental calculus. Nationally, capacity for biomolecular analysis is dispersed across academic institutions and some museums with IRO status, e.g. the British Museum (BM) and Natural History Museum (NHM). Demand for access is high across the sector, but facilities in these organisations are predominantly consigned to externally-funded research projects or research on their own collections, with little further capacity. Following Brexit, this lack of capacity has been exacerbated by uncertainty and administrative obstacles for collaborations with leading laboratories across Europe, further strengthening the need for a national facility. It is also notable that the north of the UK is less well provisioned for these advanced scientific approaches than London and the south. At BioArCh, we have the unique advantage of the expertise to offer a range of services, encompassing lipids, isotopes, DNA and proteins, in a single facility with academic leads in all these research areas. The facility is hosted by Archaeology but has members of staff in Chemistry as well as strong cooperation with Biology and access to CoEMS. Enabling enhanced participation with public and commercial organisations will advance the discipline by rolling out applications to a diverse range of samples and contexts, with results archived as open access so they can be re-used by the community. Capitalising on our already world-leading research base, we want to deliver the step change that will make biomolecular archaeology a routine analysis for the HS community.