University of Liverpool Opens Garstang Research Centre to Reconnect Global Archaeological Collections

University of Liverpool Opens Garstang Research Centre to Reconnect Global Archaeological Collections

(IN BRIEF) The University of Liverpool has opened the Garstang Research Centre, a heritage science facility that combines a newly upgraded physical research space with the forthcoming Garstang Archaeology Portal. The centre will support on-site study of archaeological material held by the Garstang Museum, while the digital platform will provide remote access to information about finds from John Garstang’s excavations held across more than 100 institutions worldwide. Supported by £450,000 in University capital works and £1.85 million from the AHRC’s RICHeS programme, the project aims to make dispersed archaeological collections more accessible for research, teaching and public engagement. Working with National Museums Liverpool, the initiative will help researchers connect material from excavations in Egypt, Sudan and the Near East that has been separated across global collections for decades.

(PRESS RELEASE) LIVERPOOL, 26-Jun-2026 — /EuropaWire/ — The University of Liverpool has officially opened the Garstang Research Centre, a new heritage science facility designed to expand physical and digital access to archaeological material connected to the excavations of John Garstang.

Based at the University’s Garstang Museum, the centre provides researchers with a newly remodelled study space equipped with improved object storage, environmental controls, security measures and an object visualiser that can support virtual access to collections.

The project also includes the development of the Garstang Archaeology Portal, a digital research platform intended to provide remote access to data on finds from Garstang excavations now held across more than 100 institutions worldwide. The portal is expected to become available later in 2026.

The Garstang Research Centre is open to researchers for on-site study, while the forthcoming portal will allow users to explore collection information remotely. Together, the physical and digital resources are intended to make archaeological material more accessible for research, teaching and public engagement.

The centre was created through a combination of University investment and external heritage-science funding. The project includes £450,000 in University capital works and £1.85 million from the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science programme, as part of the wider Reconstructing the Ancient Past initiative.

The Garstang Museum is working with National Museums Liverpool to improve access to archaeological material from excavations led by John Garstang between the early twentieth century and his death in 1956. His fieldwork took place in Egypt, Sudan and the Near East.

While many of the finds are held by the Garstang Museum and National Museums Liverpool, a substantial proportion is dispersed among museums, libraries and private institutions around the world. This fragmentation has made comparative research difficult and resource intensive.

The new research infrastructure is designed to address that challenge by linking existing records, generating new collection data and allowing researchers to examine related objects across institutional boundaries.

Joanne Fitton, Deputy Director of Libraries, Museums & Galleries at the University of Liverpool, said the Garstang Research Centre and portal will improve access to collections in Liverpool while helping reconnect archaeological material now held internationally.

Professor Christopher Smith, Executive Chair of the AHRC, said the investment will allow researchers in the United Kingdom and overseas to access the Garstang Museum collections in new ways and develop further understanding of ancient communities and their lives.

Dr Ashley Cooke, Head of World Museum at National Museums Liverpool, said the project offers an opportunity to reunite dispersed Garstang material intellectually through digitisation, even where physical reunification is not possible. National Museums Liverpool holds around 3,000 artefacts and archival items linked to the Garstang excavations.

By bringing information about these collections together through shared digital infrastructure, the project is expected to support new comparative research, strengthen understanding of archaeological contexts and reveal relationships between objects that have remained separated for decades.

Media Contact:

pressoffice@liverpool.ac.uk

SOURCE: University of Liverpool