We had a weekend in Scarborough recently, and on my list was to collect some tabular flint from the beach at Barmston, near Bridlington. Timing wise we arrived late on the Sunday just before the tide started coming in, so I hurriedly filled three carrier bags with likely looking candidates and then we were off back to Manchester.

I really like the flint from this beach and in the past have found it ideal for making ovate handaxes. This time was no exception and up to now I have made one nice large ovate and a couple of smaller cordates, and it is one of these cordates I want to talk about.

The making of the smaller cordate on the left coincided with a visit by Mark Beckett from Europac 3D to show us how to use the Artec Spider 3D scanner. The broad aim was to take scans of both faces, then use the software to stich the two scans together to make a 3D model. So far so good.

Mark set up the handaxe and completed three scans in less than ten minutes. We recognised the value of using 3D models for teaching purposes during lockdown and the Artec Spider seems like a really useful tool for the process. The fact that the software is intuitive to use means we can use it with our students to give them some digital skills and experience as well.

However, what has really got me excited about the scanner is the post processing opportunities. As you can see from all the images on the left, the flint is difficult to read, as the colour and inclusions disguise the scar pattern, and a fundamental part of lithic analysis is reading the scar pattern to understand the process of production. What you see with the images on the right is the ability to manipulate the colour and lighting in order to highlight the scar pattern. This kind of colour manipulation has real potential for helping to ‘translate’ the scar patterns on tricky to read materials. Are we going to get an Artec Spider? I certainly hope so. Many thanks to Mark for coming over to Manchester and running us through the processes. For more information about the Artec Spider checkout the Europac 3D website.