Project to map Scotland's history in 3D begins on St Kilda

SCOTLAND'S history amounts to more than just the artefacts which reside in the nation's museums and private collections.

Landscape and architecture also provide a vital glimpse of the past which we often take for granted.

In recognition of this, a new scientific project plans to map all five of Scotland's UNESCO World Heritage sites, starting with the remote island of St Kilda.

A team of experts from the Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation (CDDV) - a partnership between Historic Scotland and Glasgow School of Art - has arrived on the island to begin digitally laser scanning the site, which lies 41 miles off the Scottish mainland.

The first part of the project is expected to take two weeks and will include scanning of the physical make-up of St Kilda as well as structures such as the blackhouses and 19th Century dwellings in Village Bay.

The team will also record the more remote archaeological remains of the Amazon's House and Callum Mor's House.

The technology allows the team to capture archival shots of locations down to the millimetre, allowing changes to be monitored and a wider audience to experience these important sites.

The other four World Heritage sites in Scotland are the 19th century mill village of New Lanark, the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, the 'Heart of Neolithic Orkney' which includes Skara Brae and 'Frontiers of the Roman Empire', encompassing the Antonine Wall.