Joint instrumental investigation of museum collections as a means of enhancing Cultural Heritage and strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration

Project leaders

Marco Ferretti, Osama Osman

Agreement

EGITTO - NRC - National Research Centre of Egypt

Call

CNR-NRC 2016-2017

Department

Social sciences and humanities, cultural heritage

Thematic area

Social sciences and humanities, cultural heritage

Status of the project

New

Research proposal

Since long it has been proved that instrumental analysis of the constituent materials provides essential insight for a better understanding of Cultural Heritage. Combining the hard-sciences approach with that of the human sciences requires considerable communication and collaboration skills among scholars with different cultural backgrounds. The need for communication, however, does not only concern exclusive academic circles. Extensive awareness of Cultural Heritage is essential in strengthening the cultural identity of a country, so that communication even more concerns people.

The present research project aims at: a) strengthening the collaboration capabilities between archaeologists from the museum staff and hard scientists through the joint investigation of the museum collections; b) fostering hard sciences-based archaeological research focused on ancient materials and fabrication technologies and c) enhancing the Cultural Heritage by disseminating the outcome of the research and the knowledge of the collections.
Detailed objectives are:
- to develop and strengthen the interaction and communication among archaeologists, museum curators and hard scientists through joint field work and workshops.
- to study ancient materials and fabrication technologies and investigate, where possible, the relationship with the landscape as crucial aspects of archaeological research.
- to enhance the museum collections by: a) establishing an "open laboratory" during the experimental activities allowing the visitors to watch what is going on; b) developing educational materials and c) giving small conferences for the schools and the general public to promote and disseminate the knowledge of its collections.
- to correlate XRF and FTIR data with theoretical molecular models and propose products to be used in future conservation treatments.

In spite of the relatively long lasting (more than half a century) interaction between archaeologists and hard scientists, communication between them still remains difficult. This is due both to the different cultural backgrounds and to the fact that usually they do not work alongside with each other. The instrumental investigation of museum collections will offer the opportunity to improve communication skills on both sides. In this framework archaeologists from the museum staff will propose a research question, participate in the measurements and use the equipment, thus getting familiar with the problems related to instrumental investigations of the artifacts. At the same time, besides providing data, the hard scientists will have the opportunity to immediately discuss the achievements with the archaeologists, thus establishing a common discussion ground. The framework for further discussion and for the dissemination of the achievements will be provided by an expressly organized bilateral workshop. The experimental activities will be carried out in an "open laboratory" consisting in setting suitable barriers around the equipment allowing museum visitors to watch what scientists are doing.
A subsequent step of the project will be to develop educational materials and organize a second workshop for the schools and the general public to enhance the museum and disseminate the knowledge of its collections.

Given the artistic and archaeological relevance of the artifacts, only non-invasive or micro-invasive instrumental techniques will be used for the investigations. The combined use of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) will provide a complete compositional picture of the objects, essential to address such issues as the fabrication technique, the presence of non-original materials and the conservation conditions. 3D scanning techniques will be used to produce graphical documentation of the objects as well as educational materials

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) will be used for the elemental analysis of inorganic materials. It is particularly suitable for the purpose of the project because it is strictly non-destructive, fast and with good detection limits. Moreover the equipment is portable and can be used inside the Museum, with no need to move the object. The latter feature is crucial to allow alongside working between archaeologists and hard scientists.

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) will be used to obtain more detailed information about the molecular structure of ancient artifacts. This allows characterising organic materials, such as glues, ancient varnishes, lakes, remains of food and cosmetics. The output of FTIR analyses will also be used, in combination molecular modeling calculations to propose products to be used in conservation treatments.

Digital photogrammetry (Multi Stereo-Matching system) will be used to produce 3D documentation of the investigated artifacts. It is a fast and non-invasive tool to obtain high resolution 3D models (point clouds or mesh models) providing quantitative information about dimensions, geometry, morphology and global visualization of the artifacts. It will allow building a virtual model for both referencing the measurements on the object surface and, in the subsequent stage, producing educational materials.

Research goals

- to develop and strengthen the interaction and communication among archaeologists, museum curators and hard scientists through joint field work and workshops.
- to study ancient materials and fabrication technologies and investigate, where possible, the relationship with the landscape as crucial aspects of archaeological research.
- to enhance the museum collections by: a) establishing an "open laboratory" during the experimental activities allowing the visitors to watch what is going on; b) developing educational materials and c) giving small conferences for the schools and the general public to promote and disseminate the knowledge of its collections.
- to correlate XRF and FTIR data with theoretical molecular models and propose products to be used in future conservation treatments.

Last update: 19/04/2024