The Archaeology and Environment Science Project (AEonS)

The Archaeology and Environment Science (AEonS) project is in partnership with Orkney Museums, Historic Environment Scotland (HES), Glasgow University, Archaeology Scotland, the Scotland’s Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion (SCAPE) team based at St Andrew’s University, and the University of Southampton.

The facility will include specialist environmental archaeology laboratories, allowing the scientific study of plant and animal remains, together with ancient soils and sediments fundamental to understanding the past. It will also host new imaging equipment for creating digital records of archaeological artefacts.

Although based in Orkney, the centre will enable partners, visiting researchers, museums, commercial units, community groups, and UHI students access to a central research hub.

It will be supported by a mobile laboratory and use of the HES Engine Shed facility in Stirling that will enhance the delivery of projects across the Highlands and Islands and more widely through Scotland. The mobile laboratory will be available for outreach events hosted by community groups and schools as well as to support research fieldwork across Scotland.

AEonS is part of the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme, funded by the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund.