Conservation Technologies were commissioned to produce an accurate full-scale replica of the Vedica tombstone from the Manor House Museum, Ilkley for the exhibition Living with the Romans at the former Museum of Liverpool Life. The tombstone of Vedica is carved in sandstone 1.7m tall and believed to date back to around the 1st century AD. Vedica was a woman belonging to the Cornovii tribe of Cheshire, who is believed to have married a Roman soldier and left to settle in West Yorkshire.
The original tombstone was considered too heavy and difficult to move to a temporary travelling exhibition in Liverpool. Instead, the original tombstone was laser scanned and a full scale replica machined from the 3D scan data into a high density polyurethane resin modelboard. The replica tombstone was then patinated to look like aged sandstone. The result was an extremely accurate replica of an object that could not be loaned out, in an appropriate material for the exhibition. The nature of the replication process meant that there was no contact with the original tombstone, thereby minimising the risk to a unique artefact.
Have a look at images taken during the replication process in the image gallery below.
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