The Selene System at the British Museum

In July 2024, a team from Factum Foundation installed a Selene Photometric Stereo System in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum. As part of the Selene Circle partnership, the Department’s staff will use the scanner to digitise the museum’s collection of more than 130,000 cuneiform tablets.

The Selene Photometric Stereo System recording one of the cuneiform tablets © Jorge Cano | Factum Foundation

The digitisation project, led by Dr. Jon Taylor (Curator) and Dr. Mathilde Touillon-Ricci (Project Curator) will allow the general public and researchers to access and study these artefacts in greater detail and efficiency. These images present clearly not only the inscriptions, but also the shallow impressions of cylinder seals rolled across the surface, as well as fingerprints and other incidental impressions that reveal information about how the tablets were made.

A training session, carried out by Jorge Cano, Carlos Sanjuan and Ferdinand Saumarez-Smith, joined by ARCHiOx Technical Lead John Barrett (Bodleian Libraries), ensured the correct transfer of skills to the British Museum team.

As part of the Selene Circle, the British Museum team will be able to share and receive feedback during all phases of the digitisation project, allowing for an exchange of experiences aimed at improving the Selene’s performance while testing a variety of materials and challenges across all the institutions.