In 2021, Falkirk Community Trust collaborated with Archaeology Scotland to hold the Big Dig Archaeology Festival in Milton Row, Denny, Falkirk. Our volunteers made a few exciting finds during the excavations…
After participating in The Big Dig at Denny I was keen to create a couple of 3D models from 2D imagery, specifically two images, the front and back of an artefact we found, to represent my experiences. I also wanted to do this before they were cleaned to show how they would look straight from the excavation site. After the dig, when I was sorting and cataloguing finds at Callendar House, I came across a 1905 British halfpenny and a J & G Meakin pottery sherd, both recovered from Milton Row, Dunipace. Their flat nature made them perfect candidates to model, using Adobe Photoshop and Meshmixer software.
1905 British Halfpenny
The front of the coin features King Edward VII looking right. “EDWARD VII DEI GRA: BRITT: OMN: REX FID: DEF: IND: IMP” is Latin, meaning “Edward VII by the Grace of God, King of all the Britons, Defender of the Faith and Emperor of India” (Chard 2021). The reverse shows Britannia situated facing right with the words “HALF” and “PENNY” on either side. Originally the halfpenny would have been a metallic brown colour as it was composed of bronze. As a result of oxidation over the years, the colour is now blue-green.
These are images of how the coins would have looked before oxidation:
J & G Meakin Pottery Sherd
The sherd was manufactured by an English pottery company from Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, named J & G Meakin, which was formed in 1851 (thepotteries.org 2021). “Sunshi REG 561073 REG SOL 391413 J.&G. Meakin England” is written on the fragment with a sun face image. “Sunshi” would have read as “Sunshine.” Sunshine Ware is said to have been made from 1940-1963 (wehaps.com 2021). It is thought that “SOL” and the sun face image would have been registered in 1912 (thepotteries.org 2021) and was in use until the early 1960s as well. The sherd is likely from a base of either a plate, bowl, mug or something similar, presumably part of a dinner set.
This is a cream pitcher with the same backstamp as the sherd:
By Alice Martin, Big Dig and Dig to Display volunteer.
