School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK
Michael Penman
Division of History, Heritage and Politics, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK
David Watkinson
School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Archaeology and Conservation Section, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, Wales, UK
Nicola Emmerson
School of History, Archaeology and Religion, Archaeology and Conservation Section, Cardiff University, John Percival Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU, Wales, UK
David Thickett
English Heritage, Rangers House, Chesterfield Walk, London SE10 8QX, England, UK
Frédéric Bosché
Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, William Rankin Building, Robert Stevenson Road, The King’s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, Scotland, UK
Alan M. Forster
School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, Scotland, UK
Josep Grau-Bové
Institute for Sustainable Heritage, University College London, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN, England, UK
May Cassar
Institute for Sustainable Heritage, University College London, 14 Upper Woburn Place, London WC1H 0NN, England, UK
Heritage science is an established and thriving field of enquiry. Initially considered as inherently cross-disciplinary, encompassing both the needs of conservators and practitioners and the high-quality evidence produced by scientists, heritage science has, through its expansion in recent years, formed a discipline in its own right. Here, we examine how heritage science can, and to an extent has, moved beyond the straightforward scientific analysis of historical materials and artefacts through an exploration of heritage science’s interactions with four key themes: (i) historical and archival research, (ii) conservation practice, (iii) policy at governmental, organisational and institutional levels, and (iv) a view to how new technologies, such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, can shape the future of heritage science. Much of the review narrative is framed via the analysis of UK-based case studies; however, they deal with issues that are international in nature (universal) and therefore transcend the UK context. Taken together, we demonstrate that heritage science as a discipline is capable of directly instigating or (re-)framing new areas or avenues of research, as well as enhancing and feeding into existing research questions, and has adapted and evolved along with emerging technologies and funding opportunities.
