Manual measurements utilizing a tool known as a theodolite—tough to make use of in darkish, cramped tunnels—have been changed by laser scanners, which have improved markedly previously few a long time. “They used to connect to an external laptop,” Cavers says. “The data could only be recorded as fast as that connection. It was done over an Ethernet cable, so it was relatively fast. But even then, the first laptops that I used with a scanner had 2 gigabytes of RAM. That was top of the range. And a laptop cost an awful lot of money in those days.”

The tech has developed a great distance since then. After crawling into the Cracknie Souterrain by a 50-centimeter opening within the floor, Cavers was handed a grey gadget the dimensions of a shoebox: a Leica BLK360 laser scanner.

Cavers set the gadget on a tripod within the dank 1-meter-high passage, adjusted just a few settings, and pressed “scan.” It swiveled into motion, firing a laser in opposition to the partitions of the souterrain 10,000 occasions a second. Cavers and his crew can now take hundreds of thousands of measurements in beneath an hour with out lifting a finger—Cracknie yielded 50 million in only a few hours. “To do the equivalent of what we did with a theodolite, you would be there a long time,” Cavers says.

Collecting giant information units presents a problem in itself. “Today, we’re coming back with half a terabyte” of information, he says. “And we might do a couple of hundred projects in a year. It starts to get very difficult to manage from an IT point of view. And obviously we’re archaeologists; we’re supposed to be creating archives that are perpetual, for the long term.”

The information does, nonetheless, pay its dues. Cavers would have as soon as had to attract or {photograph} the souterrain from throughout the darkish passageway, which might have challenged his perseverance with none pure mild. Now he makes use of software program—Trimble RealWorks, NUBIGON, and Blender—to supply accessible 3D multicolored “point cloud” fashions.

The crew members can then take a look at the fashions from any angle they like and measure distances between any two objects, they usually can change the colours in accordance with variables corresponding to peak and density. It means archaeologists like Ritchie can educate individuals about archaeological websites with out having to truly go there.

“[Cracknie] is very remote,” Ritchie says. “It’s a long way from established walking routes and is relatively difficult to access.” That means it’s poorly suited to guided excursions or academic panels—however a 3D mannequin could be seen from anyplace. Ritchie may even print out a scale mannequin and show it in a museum. The know-how is making Britain’s cultural heritage extra accessible, and would possibly in the future assist archaeologists like Ritchie remedy the thriller of Scotland’s souterrains.

This article was initially revealed within the January/February 2023 challenge of WIRED UK journal.