The British Museum (BM) collection is unique in breadth, encompassing two million years of global human history. The application of science to the study and conservation of the collection is well-established; 2020 marks the centenary of the BM's first 'Research Laboratory'. Our commitment to scientific research excellence combines with a duty to publicly share the collection and the stories embodied by its objects. Our Scientific Research department develops and applies state-of-the-art investigative techniques to deliver this mission with research that reflects the collection's scope and, by training and collaboration, promotes the collection as a global resource for discovery. Our purpose-built laboratories house a wide range of specialist facilities. Molecular analysis using mass spectrometry is a key strength, and our facilities have developed into a hub that publishes ground-breaking research, attracts international researchers and PhD students, collaborates with other academic institutions, works in collaboration with regional museums and has undertaken commercial work in the heritage sector. Scientific equipment is crucial to this capability and currently comprises GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) configured for diverse sample types and LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) for analysing polar and larger molecules at high resolution. Experience has taught us that development and investment in our analytical infrastructure fuels and diversifies our research. The AHRC CapCo Fund offers a timely opportunity to address urgent replacement and upgrade for our core mass spectrometry equipment. Our oldest GC-MS has served for nearly 20 years and is now not supported by the manufacturer. We propose to replace and upgrade it with a GC-QTOF-MS which will reproduce the capability of the existing instrument and extend it by delivering high mass resolution and accurate mass data with the ability to perform structure elucidation and confirmation via MS/MS processes. Alongside we propose to upgrade our data management with a server-based system providing central storage for all data generated in the mass spectrometry facility, replacing standalone data storage with a system that will deliver greater security, inter-instrument connectivity and streamlined workflows while promoting collaborative working and enabling remote access to lab systems and data. Addition of these technologies to our instrument portfolio will consolidate our position as the leading museum-based mass spectrometry facility for heritage science in the UK. It will safeguard continuity for current research projects, including our AHRC CDP studentships, and create new opportunities for project development across the full range of the collection. This includes research on natural resins, waxes, paint media, food residues, petroleum products and modern synthetics. Archaeological projects in development include: study of bitumen from the Early Islamic port of Siraf (Iran) to examine the economics of these substances; studies of West African materials via the BM's emerging research partnership with Nigerian museums; study of resources and cultural influences based on ancient Egyptian and Nubian food residues from the BM's recent excavations in Sudan. We also plan new research on natural and synthetic polymers, examining both collection care perspectives and the cultural, economic and environmental implications of the rise of synthetic materials. Increasingly, as the BM embarks on a long-term programme of redisplay, our research is targeted at developing new narratives for display and exhibition. The upgraded analytical facilities will underpin projects aiming to deepen public understanding of some of the most prominent objects in the galleries. The project is fully deliverable within the required timescale. The equipment can be readily accommodated in existing lab spaces and technical support is extant and sustainable.

The Western European Acheulean Project (WEAP) aims to characterize the occupational pattern of western Europe during the Middle Pleistocene (MP) –700 to 300Ka–, through the study of Acheulean technology. Recent research has shown that the Atlantic seaboard is the most likely route for colonisation due to the more oceanic climate compared to eastern Europe and to the richer range of resources in coastal areas. Due to cyclical changes in climate with glaciations and interglacials, northern Europe was frequently depopulated and then recolonized through this period probably from source areas in southern France and Iberia. This route-way should therefore bear witness to the cultural links between north and south. From 1 million to 600,000 years ago there is evidence of brief pioneering events in north-west Europe with a small number of sites and small numbers of stone tool artefacts. After 600,000 year ago more sustained occupation is shown by the increase in sites and the much large stone tool assemblages. They also show technological innovation in the form handaxes and possibly in the use of fire, clothing and shelter, which led to the first sustained occupation of northern latitudes. Although there has been much research and new sites excavated over the last twenty years, there has been little integration between the work in Spain, Britain and France. Based on the applicant’s previous experience, WEAP proposes to create a common method of analysis for the study of six Middle Pleistocene sites from UK and France –in agreement with three Middle Pleistocene technologists–, the use of the experimental technology to complete the archaeological record, and the use of new methodological approaches, such as the 3D scanning technology as the most appropriated statistical analysis, to improve understanding of behavioural patterns in order to build models of human dispersals from south-west to north-west Europe.

This project proposes new outputs for research generated by the 'Sustainability and subsistence systems in a changing Sudan' project (2013 - 2016). This project explored how comparisons of present-day and ancient crop choices can inform on risk management within agricultural strategies of small-scale settlements along the middle Nile valley. Interviews with Nubian farmers revealed dramatic, previously undocumented, shifts in crops grown in the hyper-arid region of northern Sudan since the mid-20th century. Traditional agricultural knowledge is rapidly disappearing with some information remembered only by elderly farmers. Several cereals and pulses that were the most important food crops grown by villagers until recent decades, but are now little used, are comparatively tolerant to aridity and heat. Their presence in the regional archaeobotanical record also reveals their long-term use, further suggesting their environmental suitability. The 'Learning from the past: Nubian traditional knowledge and agricultural resilience, crop choices and endangered cultural heritage' project aims to: - Advocate the importance of using traditional agricultural knowledge to help create strategies for agricultural resilience within international development and broader agricultural research programmes. - To highlight the potential role of increasingly little used cereals and pulses as subsistence crops in marginal environments. - To promote the way ethnobotanical and archaeobotanical approaches can contribute to the agricultural research and NGO sector in Sudan, the UK and internationally. - To preserve traditional Nubian agriculture knowledge that can be considered as endangered cultural heritage and simultaneously as practical knowledge relevant to future agricultural resilience. These aims will be achieved through the creation of a booklet 'Changing Nubian agriculture and crops; the example of Ernetta Island' and the organisation of workshops to be held in the UK and Sudan with NGOs and agricultural researchers. The booklet will provide a new format for disseminating the project results to both existing and new audiences. The booklet will provide a novel and direct way to engage with and benefit local farming Nubian communities in the Abri/Ernetta region, 700km north of Khartoum, and aims to help preserve Nubian agricultural heritage and knowledge for future generations. Farmers also expressly requested the creation of such a booklet, and local participants will be consulted on the booklet content. Once printed, the booklet will be distributed in villages and aims to conserve these 'oral histories' and local ecological knowledge for future generations. The booklet will focus on details of traditional crops and cultivation, agricultural practices and foodstuffs and how these have been changing in recent decades. Associated material culture such as traditional kitchens and less tangible cultural heritage such the daily routines connected with older modes of agricultural practices will also be documented. A summary of the ancient history of crops grown in the region will be added to provide a long-term context to crops grown today and in the recent past. Preserving indigenous knowledge about local crops, cultivation and cuisine has implications for future food security through offering unique insights into local adaptive solutions. An interdisciplinary cross-sector workshop 'Traditional agricultural knowledge, 'forgotten' crops and agricultural resilience' held in London aims to further promote the way ethnobotanical and archaeobotanical approaches can contribute to the agricultural research and the NGO/NPO sector, using the booklet as a case study. Developing ways - and highlighting the importance - of conserving traditional agricultural knowledge is vital to managing present and future agricultural resilience to seasonal, annual and long-term climate variation and change.