Over the past century, leading UK researchers working under the auspices of the British School at Athens (BSA), British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) and British School at Rome (BSR) - members of the British International Research Institutes (BIRI) - have generated heritage science collections - archaeological ceramic, lithic and botanical samples and geological reference collections - of international significance for addressing big-picture questions concerning the human past in the Mediterranean. These collections have substantial research value from ancient technologies and economies to innovation and societal change, with unparalleled value for investigating mobility of objects, raw materials and humans. Newcastle University works closely with the BIRI and has an international reputation for research in heritage science especially in artefacts and archaeological archives as well as substantial expertise in collections management. Of particular interest to Newcastle, 50-years of scientific study of Mediterranean ceramics at the BSA has created a collection of unrealised potential. These fundamental collections, however, remain inaccessible to most researchers. The BIRI Collections represent an ideal model for building a versatile and powerful heritage science collections management system. Underpinning and contextualising these data are significant related excavation and ethnography archives. Our collaborative programme will address the need for a heritage science collection management system and related digital infrastructure by focusing on a meaningful subset of BIRI collections laying the groundwork for future expansion. Using new technologies (set to international standards), we will build infrastructure to transform the potential of these unparalleled heritage science resources for international researchers and the public serving two key purposes: 1. To make primary data freely accessible. Providing access to this infrastructure will enable researchers to explore inherent, meaningful spatio-temporal networks of information in diverse collections, so that they can explore and analyse relationships between objects, people and places. 2. To enable the combination of collections and the creation of thematic stories through custom web themes, available for public and educational programs from school children to post-doctoral researchers. The data and the technology have been selected to ensure a meaningful research resource and a proof of concept for compatible expansion. Requirements for infrastructure include: Standards-based, findable and accessible to humans and machines, enabling research potential for humanities and social sciences including the use of machine learning to characterise digital images (e.g. of material thin sections). Cultural heritage aggregators will be able to consume linked open data published by the infrastructure. Remote access will include browsable catalogues of downloadable data as well as custom web themes that bring public education value through engaging storytelling. Tools that enable collaborating organisations to add data to websites sustainably without requiring ongoing IT development; facilitating collaborative research.