NEUTRON TOMOGRAPHY AS A VALUABLE TOOL FOR THE NON‐DESTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL BRONZE SCULPTURES

This paper explains, with the example of a Roman object (the ‘Mars from Oberweningen’, Switzerland), why neutrons can be used preferentially for the non‐destructive analysis of metallic objects of relatively large size. This method is superior to the conventional X‐ray tomography method due to the higher penetration ability in metals such as copper, tin and even lead. With this method, differing materials can also easily be differentiated. In this way, the inner and outer structures of objects can be observed with the help of tools based on mathematical algorithms. Slices at arbitrary positions and segmentation of different material clusters aid the understanding of manufacturing processes and can describe the present preservation status. This helps in selecting optimal and additional conservation measures in museums for further preservation. Beside the qualitative overview on structure and inner properties of the objects, quantitative information can be derived about material content and composition. This method and the subsequently needed facilities for this method are available at PSI for similar studies on demand.     

The State We're in on the Eve of World Archaeological Congress (WAC) 6: Archaeology in Ireland vs Corporate Takeover and a Reply from University College Dublin

Abstract

There has been a change in how the state in Ireland uses archaeology since the 1990s, when it began collaboration with the private sector on large-scale development. Most archaeologists are now employed by private companies on temporary, short-term contracts. As in other countries, this has happened in tandem with increasing bureaucratic, corporate control of universities and pressure on academics to orient teaching to meet the needs of industry. This is an inevitable expression of expansion by multi-national corporations, often part of the ‘spreading democracy’ which, updating a famous phrase, can be characterised as a US-led ‘war by other means’. I present a case study of that process unfolding in one country, focusing on road development, the corruption upon which it is necessarily founded, and the role of archaeology. The M3 motorway which threatens the landscape of the Hill of Tara provides a good example. Crucial questions of professional ethics and standards, particularly professionals’ accountability to the community, have been sidelined. WAC 6 will be held in University College Dublin in June 2008; this congress will be pivotal because WAC will decide for or against archaeologists’ accountability to communities and their life-or-death struggle for survival, and for or against embedding the profession with cultural destruction in the private sector. A reply from University College Dublin follows this article.     

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF OBSIDIAN SOURCING STUDIES IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH*

This paper thematically characterizes a large body of recent obsidian sourcing discourse as a means of highlighting the current place of obsidian provenance studies in larger archaeological discourse. It is shown that the field of obsidian sourcing is flourishing, with a clear upward trend in the number of published studies in the past decade. This paper further argues that sourcing is a means to an end, a way to determine where artefacts originate, and thus a means of addressing broader archaeological problems. Through this contextual framework, obsidian sourcing studies—and indeed all provenance studies—are seen as relevant because they transcend the increasingly specialized world of archaeological discourse.     

COPPER ALLOYS FROM THE ‘ENOT SHUNI CEMETERY AND THE ORIGINS OF BRONZE METALLURGY IN THE EB IV – MB II LEVANT

Tin bronze replaced arsenical copper as the preferred alloy in the Levant for reasons that have long been debated. Found almost exclusively in graves, these two types of copper alloys share nearly identical mechanical properties. The Bronze Age cemetery of ‘Enot Shuni has yielded the first metals ever analysed from an uninterrupted stratigraphic sequence in the Levant, spanning the earliest adoption of tin bronze from the Early Bronze Age (EB) IV through the Middle Bronze Age (MB) II (c. 2300–1530 bc ). SEM–EDS analysis of these artefacts, combined with a compositional meta‐database of all previously published EB IV – MB II alloys, reveals diachronic alloy progression as selected by populations of the Levant. It has long been qualitatively understood that bronze became the primary alloy by the MB II. These results verify this trend and quantify human demand, showing that tin importation increased by 103% and arsenic content decreased by 49% throughout these periods. This shift in technological choice is attributed to cultural reorientation from the Egyptian to Mesopotamian sphere of influence, as well as to tin's appreciable fuel efficiency over pure copper and arsenical copper in light of unprecedented timber shortages.     

2010 cultural heritage legal summary

Abstract

The year 2010 was a relatively quiet one for legal developments with respect to archaeological heritage. Some court decisions that were expected this year, such as that concerning foreign sovereign immunity for artifacts on loan from Iran to the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, did not materialize, while other disputes remain on appeal, such as that involving the disposition of 500,000 gold and silver coins taken from an early 19th century Spanish shipwreck by Odyssey Marine. One of the most closely watched cases, the trial in Italy of the former J. Paul Getty Museum curator, Marion True, ended inconclusively when time ran out for the prosecution. Nonetheless, recovery and restitution of cultural objects that were brought illegally into the United States continued, as did controversies concerning the bilateral agreements concluded between the United States and other nations, pursuant to the 1983 Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, the United States' legislation implementing the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The following review focuses on legal developments primarily in the United States, as the United States participates in international treaty regimes to protect cultural heritage.     

INVESTIGATING MATERIAL DECAY OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS USING VISUAL ANALYTICS WITH MULTI‐TEMPORAL INFRARED THERMOGRAPHIC DATA

This paper shows how visual analytics methodology can be used to facilitate interpretation of multi‐temporal thermographic imagery for the purpose of restoration of cultural heritage. We explore thermographic data in a visual environment from the unifying spatio‐temporal perspective in an attempt to identify spatial and spatio‐temporal patterns that could provide information about the structure and the level of decay of the material, and the presence of other physical phenomena in the wall. The approach is tested on a thermographic dataset captured on the façade of a Romanesque building from the 13th century—the Cathedral in Matera (Italy).     

2009 Cultural Heritage Legal Summary

Abstract

In 2009, nearly 55 years after the U.S. participated in the drafting of the first international convention to exclusively address the protection of cultural property, the U.S. ratified the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. New developments concerning the U.S.’ implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property through its legislation, the 1983 Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act, continue to expand and test the parameters of the role of the U.S. in this international treaty regime. Finally, claims, recoveries, and restitution of looted, smuggled, and stolen cultural artifacts continued.     

Information Retrieval in Cultural Heritage

Abstract

This article discusses the opportunities and challenges of applying modern information retrieval techniques to the cultural heritage domain. Although the field of information retrieval is closely associated with computer science, it originally emerged from library science — also one of the main disciplines concerned with access to cultural heritage material. Hence we are, in a sense, exploring what happens if we bring these strands of research back together again. The article consists of three parts. In the first part, we explain the field of information retrieval and its multidisciplinary nature. In the second part, we discuss how and why the problem of providing access to cultural heritage can be cast naturally as an information retrieval problem. In the third and main part, we present a detailed case study of applying the modern information retrieval approach in practice within a museum.