Archaeologists recreated a two-thousand-year-old pin using 3D printing and scanning

Reconstruction of jewelry made using computer technology and traditional methods. In the manufacture of used wax, clay and bronze.

Archaeologists have restored the decoration of the Iron Age era with the help of digital technology.

The BBC News article has been translated and updated for you by Top 3D Shop .

To recreate an ancient accessory, it was necessary to scan clay forms that were used to cast bronze jewelry in the first and third centuries of our era. The original forms found in Cairns, on the island of South Ronaldsay, Orkney, were too fragile for making jewelry.
Restoration of the decoration was carried out by Ben Price, a graduate student at the University of the Institute of Archeology of Highlands and Islands. During the recent excavations of the Iron Age brooch in Cairns, about 60 fragments of clay forms were found.
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Excavations on the island of South Ronaldsay, Orkney Islands, Scotland.

Brochs, also known as the “Atlantic Round Houses,” were stone towers built on the Scottish islands and highlands. Brochs are characterized by round shape and drywall construction, without any cementing solution.


Ruins of a brooch in Dan Carloway, Lewis, Scotland. Photo from Wikipedia.


Ancient pin, render.

Ben Price recreated the entire process of creating jewelry of the Iron Age, from the discovery of the original molds to the casting of a new pin.
How it was done:

1. Initially, fragments were collected that were found on the ground in Cairns;
2. A 3D image was modeled from 3D scans and photographs of the mold debris;
3. A recreated digital model on a 3D printer prints a wax;
4. On waxing, clay mold is recreated;
5. After the clay froze, bronze was poured into it, which took the form of a pin;
6. The product is left to cool for 48 hours;
7. The clay form was smashed, exposing the resulting bronze pin, which, to the smallest detail, follows the shape of an ancient product.

Mr. Price photographed and scanned the original Iron Age computer forms and created a digital 3D image on the screen.
He then created a three-dimensional computer model of a pin. It was waxed on a 3D printer. The wax was perfect for a pin cast in bronze, the material used by Orkney jewelers thousands of years ago.

Martin Carruthers, head of the UHI Master Program, said:

“This process gives us unique and exciting information about the objects that the inhabitants of Cairns created and used more than 2,000 years ago.

You can see all the flaws created by the ancient technology products.
This approach opens up many possibilities for experimental archeology. The reconstruction of such products makes it possible to assess how much the Iron Age was full of bright original objects. Perhaps our ancestors and not very different from the people of our time. "


Now everyone can join the story by buying an exact copy of the famous pin of Cairns, unlike the bronze original cast in silver, for 66 British pounds.

What do you think, will jewelry be recreated using patterns found on the territory of the former USSR? Is the history of the peoples living here so interesting for people to buy copies of artifacts? Can museums make money on this?