The Save Wemyss Ancient Caves Society (SWACS) has expressed delight that it has been awarded a certificate of excellence at the British Archeological Awards.
The honour was awarded for the creation of Wemyss Caves 4D interactive website.
SWACS 4D website gives virtual access to one of the most archaeologically important cave systems in the world, highlighting an extraordinary rich array of ancient Pictish and Norse markings in one particular cave and allowing viewers to interact with it.
The project is the result of a collaborative visualisation project involving SWACS in partnership with YAT (York Archaeological Trust), SCAPE (Scottish Coastal Archaeology and the Problem of Erosion), with community input.
Of the hundreds of entries only 18 made the shortlist, with three projects nominated for each of the six categories.
Wemyss Caves 4D had been shortlisted in best public presentation of archaeology along with Channel 4’s New Secrets of the Terracotta Army and York University’s archaeological journal Post Hole.
New Secrets of the Terraccotta Army were overall winners, with Wemyss 4D and Post Hole both highly commended.
Dr Tom Dawson of St Andrews University and SCAPE said: “The project with SWACS was very rewarding, and not only did we manage to capture fantastic 3D images of Jonathan’s Cave and its carvings but were able to scan some fantastic images showing how rapidly the coast had eroded around East Wemyss, together with some fascinating oral history.
“Some of this is already included on the 4Dwemysscaves website but we will be adding more over the coming months.”
Dr Gavin MacGregor, who headed the team of specialist digital archaeologists from York Archaeological Trust (YAT) and Northlight Heritage, said it had been a privilege to work with SWACS.
“We’re all passionate about the same thing,” he said.
Dr Sue Hamstead, education officer of SWACS, said: “We’re learning so much from this project and we’re really keen to continue working with our partners from YAT and SCAPE to sustain this innovative trend and bring the best techniques available to the investigation and recording of the rest of the caves.”
Pam Cranston, secretary of SWACS, said: “It was quite an experience seeing our project profiled in this way and interesting to see what others are doing.
“The support we had and continue to receive from SCAPE, YAT, the archaeological and the local communities is crucial to the cause of preserving and understanding these unique caves.
“We will be back.”
The award-winning website is at www.4dwemysscaves.org.