University's medical hi-tech technology used on rare artefact
The Fadden More Psalter – an eighth century book of Psalms – is the latest archaeological find to be examined by scientists from Nottingham Trent University using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) which was originally developed as for medical imaging.
The technology has been put to work by the university team to develop a new field of imaging for art conservation and archaeology.
OCT can see a 3D image of the layers below the surface of a painting or decorated surface, often right down to an artist's first sketches.
The team was contacted last year by archaeologists at the National Museum of Ireland – custodians of the famous Fadden More Psalter.
The book was discovered in July 2006 by a bulldozer driver working on the peat bogs of Fadden More in Ireland, the Psalter instantly gained international recognition as the most significant find of its kind in over 200 years.
Dr Haida Liang, senior lecturer in Physics at the university's School of Science and Technology visited the museum last year to carry out tests on the leather cover of the Psalter.
The imaging team at the university has also worked with galleries in examining a wide range of famous works, including Bottecelli's Descent of the Holy Ghost.
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