Tom Goskar
@tom.goskar.com
Archaeologist | FSA | Working with #3Dscanning since 2002 | Rock art & inscriptions | Folklore, traditions & customs | Trad music | Mandolin player
Website: https://tom.goskar.com
Website: https://tom.goskar.com
Very sad that Dr Andy M Jones from Cornwall Archaeological Unit has died. I'd worked and co-authored a couple of papers with him. He was constantly working on projects, his brain always fizzing with ideas and connections. We planned some "one day" Cornish rock art projects. Must make them happen.
September 30, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Very sad that Dr Andy M Jones from Cornwall Archaeological Unit has died. I'd worked and co-authored a couple of papers with him. He was constantly working on projects, his brain always fizzing with ideas and connections. We planned some "one day" Cornish rock art projects. Must make them happen.
Reposted by Tom Goskar
Some very sad news from Cornwall. Our thoughts go to Andy’s family and friends.
September 29, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Some very sad news from Cornwall. Our thoughts go to Andy’s family and friends.
Some thoughts on 3D structured light scanning (SLS) for archaeologists and heritage folks. tom.goskar.com/2025/09/02/e...
Experiments in structured light 3D scanning – Tom Goskar
tom.goskar.com
September 2, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Some thoughts on 3D structured light scanning (SLS) for archaeologists and heritage folks. tom.goskar.com/2025/09/02/e...
Just tried Perplexity's AI Deep Research tool. It made up a great looking report answering my queries about literacy levels of early medieval British stonemasons. It literally made it up, including imaginary quotes from imaginary manuscripts. It didn't use the sources I gave it either. Fail!
February 18, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Just tried Perplexity's AI Deep Research tool. It made up a great looking report answering my queries about literacy levels of early medieval British stonemasons. It literally made it up, including imaginary quotes from imaginary manuscripts. It didn't use the sources I gave it either. Fail!
It’s a data processing week this week. Creating a very high resolution model of an inscribed stone to analyse every bit of its surface, including some tantalising but faint markings. The fans are revving up on my main computer. My office needed warming up anyway…
December 18, 2024 at 11:39 AM
It’s a data processing week this week. Creating a very high resolution model of an inscribed stone to analyse every bit of its surface, including some tantalising but faint markings. The fans are revving up on my main computer. My office needed warming up anyway…
Today it's back to eroded inscriptions; tracing, and teasing individual letters out of coarse granite. Tomorrow sees me heading out for some fieldwork to clean and record another inscribed early medieval stone that also has some ogham. Will post some images once the project has been delivered!
December 11, 2024 at 10:40 AM
Today it's back to eroded inscriptions; tracing, and teasing individual letters out of coarse granite. Tomorrow sees me heading out for some fieldwork to clean and record another inscribed early medieval stone that also has some ogham. Will post some images once the project has been delivered!
Today is one of those days where every question I answer about an early medieval inscription, every letter identified leads to fifteen further questions. Who carved it? Could they read the inscription? Had they seen writing before? Did anyone check it? Why didn't they frame it first? Etc etc.
November 29, 2024 at 11:11 AM
Today is one of those days where every question I answer about an early medieval inscription, every letter identified leads to fifteen further questions. Who carved it? Could they read the inscription? Had they seen writing before? Did anyone check it? Why didn't they frame it first? Etc etc.
Reposted by Tom Goskar
Issue #12 of The Spatial Heritage Review is now live! 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/nebulous...
🖼️ Tour the Pergamon Museum.
🛥️ Shackleton’s Endurance digitised.
🕶️ XR demos.
🛠️ 3D printing & ed-tech projects.
📆 Upcoming global events, surveys, tutorials.
➕ ...& much more to discover!
#GLAM3D
🖼️ Tour the Pergamon Museum.
🛥️ Shackleton’s Endurance digitised.
🕶️ XR demos.
🛠️ 3D printing & ed-tech projects.
📆 Upcoming global events, surveys, tutorials.
➕ ...& much more to discover!
#GLAM3D
November 25, 2024 at 9:08 AM
Issue #12 of The Spatial Heritage Review is now live! 🔗 open.substack.com/pub/nebulous...
🖼️ Tour the Pergamon Museum.
🛥️ Shackleton’s Endurance digitised.
🕶️ XR demos.
🛠️ 3D printing & ed-tech projects.
📆 Upcoming global events, surveys, tutorials.
➕ ...& much more to discover!
#GLAM3D
🖼️ Tour the Pergamon Museum.
🛥️ Shackleton’s Endurance digitised.
🕶️ XR demos.
🛠️ 3D printing & ed-tech projects.
📆 Upcoming global events, surveys, tutorials.
➕ ...& much more to discover!
#GLAM3D
Currently stuck on reading a very eroded part of an inscription. Even on the monument just a couple of chalk strokes indicate that there's something there. The 3D scan shows much more when you filter it correctly. But it's still quite far gone. Going to use all of the enhancements I can think of.
November 28, 2024 at 1:12 PM
Currently stuck on reading a very eroded part of an inscription. Even on the monument just a couple of chalk strokes indicate that there's something there. The 3D scan shows much more when you filter it correctly. But it's still quite far gone. Going to use all of the enhancements I can think of.
Reposted by Tom Goskar
All day today we're running our Collections & Research Day, join us online and learn all about us and what we've got! www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E7t...
November 27, 2024 at 10:01 AM
All day today we're running our Collections & Research Day, join us online and learn all about us and what we've got! www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E7t...
One of the difficulties of visiting a church to 3D scan something specific is then seeing other interesting things, like fragments of stone, worn out decorations, unreadable monumental inscriptions. I *might* have captured a few extras just to have a look.
November 22, 2024 at 11:36 AM
One of the difficulties of visiting a church to 3D scan something specific is then seeing other interesting things, like fragments of stone, worn out decorations, unreadable monumental inscriptions. I *might* have captured a few extras just to have a look.
Today is all about file organisation and data processing. I'm also comparing datasets collected with two cameras, one of which is an iPhone 16 Pro Max using its 48 megapixel files.
November 22, 2024 at 11:25 AM
Today is all about file organisation and data processing. I'm also comparing datasets collected with two cameras, one of which is an iPhone 16 Pro Max using its 48 megapixel files.
The second monument is perhaps Cornwall’s only inscribed stone situated next to a lovely warm radiator. It’s the ‘Selus’ stone in St Just Church. We’re using 3D enhancement techniques to check for missing details.
November 21, 2024 at 3:49 PM
The second monument is perhaps Cornwall’s only inscribed stone situated next to a lovely warm radiator. It’s the ‘Selus’ stone in St Just Church. We’re using 3D enhancement techniques to check for missing details.
First monument of the day: the early medieval ‘Qonfal’ (personal name meaning “great wolf” according to Prof Charles Thomas in 1993) memorial in Madron Church.
November 21, 2024 at 3:39 PM
First monument of the day: the early medieval ‘Qonfal’ (personal name meaning “great wolf” according to Prof Charles Thomas in 1993) memorial in Madron Church.
Heavy rain out there down here in the far west of Cornwall. Luckily today’s fieldwork isn’t in a field, but inside two churches. And if there’s a break in the rain, outside at a third.
November 21, 2024 at 7:51 AM
Heavy rain out there down here in the far west of Cornwall. Luckily today’s fieldwork isn’t in a field, but inside two churches. And if there’s a break in the rain, outside at a third.
Time for new strings on my mandolin.
November 20, 2024 at 9:01 PM
Time for new strings on my mandolin.
Getting ready for more fieldwork tomorrow. Three churches. One particularly exciting inscribed stone, and the overriding question of “is it a chi-rho?” It’s complicated and detail-driven work to tease out every bit of detail from coarse Cornish granite.
November 20, 2024 at 3:23 PM
Getting ready for more fieldwork tomorrow. Three churches. One particularly exciting inscribed stone, and the overriding question of “is it a chi-rho?” It’s complicated and detail-driven work to tease out every bit of detail from coarse Cornish granite.
Today I am mainly tracing lines. Lines possibly created as a pillar with an early medieval inscription was (current hypothesis) moved by dragging it lengthways then turning it nearly 90 degrees and dragging it again. Some of those lines have been interpreted as a cross, and were later recut as one.
November 18, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Today I am mainly tracing lines. Lines possibly created as a pillar with an early medieval inscription was (current hypothesis) moved by dragging it lengthways then turning it nearly 90 degrees and dragging it again. Some of those lines have been interpreted as a cross, and were later recut as one.
Today I am mainly working on Sourton cross, analysing 3D capture data of the supposed chi-rho to see if it’s really there, what form it takes, and to make some clear images of the early medieval inscription (6th-9th century).
November 14, 2024 at 10:55 AM
Today I am mainly working on Sourton cross, analysing 3D capture data of the supposed chi-rho to see if it’s really there, what form it takes, and to make some clear images of the early medieval inscription (6th-9th century).
@grahamtait.bsky.social Welcome to Bluesky!
November 12, 2024 at 2:28 PM
@grahamtait.bsky.social Welcome to Bluesky!
Having a much-needed screen break from tracing decorations on an early medieval cross. Not as easy as just click and trace, but every line must have evidence and my decisions and thinking need to be documented, and that’s difficult on eroded coarse granite. Now, where’s that line again?
November 11, 2024 at 8:08 PM
Having a much-needed screen break from tracing decorations on an early medieval cross. Not as easy as just click and trace, but every line must have evidence and my decisions and thinking need to be documented, and that’s difficult on eroded coarse granite. Now, where’s that line again?
Today I will mainly be carefully tracing (via hi-res 3D surface and filters) what is thought to be a chi-rho carved into the top of an early medieval inscribed stone in Cornwall. Spoiler alert: it’s not a chi-rho, but a jaunty rendition of a tau-rho.
November 8, 2024 at 8:11 AM
Today I will mainly be carefully tracing (via hi-res 3D surface and filters) what is thought to be a chi-rho carved into the top of an early medieval inscribed stone in Cornwall. Spoiler alert: it’s not a chi-rho, but a jaunty rendition of a tau-rho.
Suddenly I have lots of new followers. Thanks for following. I'm an archaeologist and mainly work enhancing and interpreting inscribed or carved stones. I use 3D capture methods to make highly detailed surface models and a variety of techniques to make them clearer. Amongst other digital things...
November 7, 2024 at 1:50 PM
Suddenly I have lots of new followers. Thanks for following. I'm an archaeologist and mainly work enhancing and interpreting inscribed or carved stones. I use 3D capture methods to make highly detailed surface models and a variety of techniques to make them clearer. Amongst other digital things...
Very atmospheric conditions for a bit of recording today.
October 18, 2024 at 4:35 PM
Very atmospheric conditions for a bit of recording today.
Beautiful day for some fieldwork. Off to record some medieval crosses in east Cornwall and West Devon to study their inscriptions.
October 18, 2024 at 7:39 AM
Beautiful day for some fieldwork. Off to record some medieval crosses in east Cornwall and West Devon to study their inscriptions.