Advanced Digital Modelling of the Newport Medieval Ship

Summary

Since its discovery in 2002, the remains of the mid 15th century clinker built Newport Medieval Ship have been excavated, cleaned, documented, modelled and are now midway through PEG and freeze-drying conservation treatment. Digital documentation methods, including laser scanning and contact digitising were used extensively. The manufacture and assembly of a 1:10 scale physical model of the vessel remains has provided both construction sequence information and a suitable foundation from which to reconstruct the missing or damaged areas. The physical model was then digitised and a set of lines extracted and faired using Rhino3D software. The lines were turned into a digital hull model and analysed in a related software program called ORCA, which has been used to determine hydrostatic and hydrodynamic characteristics. The use of the abovementioned advanced digital modelling software has allowed archaeologists to accurately characterise the seaworthiness of the original vessel.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Digital Approaches in Nautical Archaeology: Practice and Prospect   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 593