PHYSICAL TECHNIQUES IN THE STUDY OF ART, ARCHAEOLOGY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE, 1
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David Bradley, BSc (Hons) (Essex), MSc (Radiation Physics) (London), PhD (USM) CPhys, FInstP, FIPEM, FIFM, Centre for Nuclear and Radiation Physics, Department of Physics, University of Surrey, UK Dudley Creagh, BSc (1 Hons) Dip Ed (Qld) MSc (UNE) MSc (Brist) PhD (NSW) CPhys CEng FInstP FAIP, University of Canberra, Division of Health Design and Science, Canberra, Australia
Description This volume is the first of a series on Physical Techniques in the Study of Art, Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. It follows a successful
earlier publication by Elsevier (Radiation in Art and Archaeometry).
There has been an upsurge of interest world wide in cultural
heritage issues, and in particular, large organizations such as UNESCO and the European Union are active in providing funding for a very
diverse range of projects in cultural heritage preservation. It is perceived that it is essential to preserve the cultural heritage
of societies, both to benefit the future generations of those societies, and to inform other cultures.
A growing need exists for
the education of conservators and restorers because it is these professionals who will make decisions on how best to preserve our cultural
heritage. This book series therefore has as its primary aim, the dissemination of technical information on scientific conservation to
scientific conservators, museum curators, conservation science students, and other interested people.
Scientific conservation, as
a discipline, is a comparatively modern concept. Interested scientists have for many years addressed scientific problems associated
with cultural heritage artefacts. But their involvement has been sporadic and driven by the needs of individual museums, rather than
a personal lifetime study of issues of conservation of for example, buildings, large functional objects, paintings, and so on.
In
this book series contributors will come from both interested scientists and the museum-based scientists. The authors have been selected
with an eye to involving young, and well as established, scientists.
Dr Jean Louis Boutaine, was Head of the Research Department
of the Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees de France at the Louvre. Dr Boutaine has had a most distinguished career within
the conservation science community. He writes here on the concept of the Modern Museum.
Professor Casali is responsible for the
teaching of Archaeometry at the University of Bologna. He has developed advanced equipment for both micro-Computer Tomography and for
large-object Computer Tomography. His chapter deals with X-ray, neutron, and digital radiography as applied to the study of objects
of cultural heritage significance.
Professor Tim Wess holds the Chair of Biomaterials in the Biophysics Division in the School of
Optometry and Vision Science at Cardiff University. The systems in which he is interested contain collagen, fibrillin, and cellulose
(which relate, in the cultural heritage discipline, to an interest in parchment and papers). A parallel interest is in the structure
of bone and artificial composite materials (which relates to his interest in historical studies of bone materials). Chapter 3 will describe
the techniques used to study alteration to structure of minerals in the bone. Preservation of intact bone mineral crystallites has been
shown to relate to the endurance of amplifiable ancient DNA from archaeological and fossil bone. In collaboration with Drs K. Nielsen
and Rene Larsen (School of Conservation, Copenhagen, Denmark) Tim Wess has analyzed the deterioration of historic parchments and also
simulated ageing processes.
Chapter 5 has been written by Dr Andrew Hardy who began studying Middle Eastern eye cosmetics (kohls)
in the early 1990's whilst working in Oman. He has continued this work at the Centre for Medical History, School of Historical, Political
and Sociological Studies, Exeter University. The chapter summarizes and reviews the usage and composition of kohls in ancient (Pharaonic)
Egypt. It also gives information, from later time periods, on kohl usage and its recipes, which have been studied using a wide range
of experimental techniques.
Audience
Museum conservators, curators, managers and museologists. Also of use by university science departments, university postgraduate students and university libraries.
Contents Preface
Chapter 1. The Modern Museum (J.L. Boutaine)
Chapter 2. X-Ray and Neutron Digital Radiography and Computed Tomography (F. Casali)
Chapter 3. Investigation of Diagenetic and Postmortem Bone Mineral Change by Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering (J.C. Hiller and T.J. Wess)
Chapter 4. The Use of X-Ray Scattering to Analyse Parchment Structure and Degradation (C.J. Kennedy and T.J. Wess)
Chapter 5. Egyptian
Eye Cosmetics (`kohls'): Past and Present (A.D. Hardy, R.I. Walton, R. Vaishnav, K.A. Myers, M.R. Power and D. Pirrie)
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