The Digital Ossuary – a 3D model of the charnel chapel

As part of the Rothwell Charnel Chapel Project, we are collaborating with researchers in computer science to create a 3D digital model of the charnel chapel.

This part of the research project has four principal aims:

1. To illuminate medieval use of the ossuary, through digital capturing of its spatial arrangements, and the range of medieval vantage points into the chapel.

2. To present this fragile, and largely inaccessible, heritage resource to the public in a sustainable manner.

3. To analyse the largely unstudied medieval human skeletal remains (which cannot be removed for standard osteological assessment) by collecting digital records of the charnel deposit, with a view to understanding the composition and stratigraphy of the assemblage.

4. To facilitate digital preservation of the charnel, which is in a fragile state, with a view to informing conservation strategies, eg through recording of degradation and discolouration.

View the 3D digital model of the charnel chapel

Find out more about the process of collecting and processing the 3D data

The Digital Ossuary project was funded by a University of Sheffield Digital Humanities Development Grant.

The background to this ongoing project was presented by Dr Lizzy Craig-Atkins at the 2016 Festival of the Arts and Humanities in Sheffield. Watch the video below.