Heritage science is the application of scientific techniques and technologies to improve our understanding, conservation, management and engagement with cultural heritage. It ensures that heritage assets remain safe to view, display, handle and study, and is therefore critical to the continued economic viability of the heritage sector. Put more simply, heritage science is the use of scientific techniques to answer questions about our cultural heritage.
Heritage science encompasses everything from dating archaeological materials to revealing the hidden contents of mummified collections, searching for submerged shipwrecks and understanding environmental or human impact on historic buildings, paintings or textiles. New technologies now provide opportunities to address longstanding challenges such as cleaning delicate artworks or looking inside sealed documents.
You can explore previous heritage science case studies shared by the National Heritage Science Forum.
Do you have a challenge or question heritage science could help you address? We encourage you to explore more about what facilities and reference collections are available through the RICHeS distributed infrastructure on the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS) Catalogue of Services.
