Spectroscopy of cultural heritage materials: Choosing the right technique(s)

Date: 

Thursday, May 31, 2018, 9:30am to 4:30pm

Repeats every day until Fri Jun 01 2018

Location: 

11 Divinity Ave. Cambridge, MA 02138 Harvard University

DESCRIPTION

Registration is now open. Check back later for detailed schedule and location information.

Download the flyer here. Please print and distribute freely.

 

Sponsored by:

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Olympus

Harvard University Center for Nanoscale Systems

Harvard University Department of Anthropology

Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnologies

 

Workshop: "Spectroscopy of Cultural Heritage Materials: Choosing the Right Technique(s)"

 

A long and ever-expanding list of analytical chemistry techniques are now available to researchers in archaeological science, conservation science, and related disciplines. Options include various types of spectroscopy, such as X-ray elemental analysis (XRF, EDS, XPS) and vibrational spectroscopy (FTIR, Raman). Each method provides different information about a sample, and it can be unclear how to choose the best technique—or how and when to combine multiple techniques—to answer a particular research question.

 

This two-day workshop aims to give an overview of relevant spectroscopic techniques and to provide examples of specific applications in cultural heritage fields. Research presentations and discussion will focus on how participants have successfully navigated the landscape of available methods or have integrated complementary spectroscopy techniques in their research projects. This will be followed by hands-on laboratory activities and vendor demonstrations of new and field-portable instruments. Workshop participants are encouraged to bring their own samples to analyze. All are welcome to attend, including experienced practitioners and those interested in exploring new possibilities for their research.

 

Research presentations:

  • Matthew Chastain (MIT) / The engineering of ancient Chinese metallurgical ceramics revealed by SEM-EDS and FTIR
  • Katherine Eremin (Harvard Art Museums) / Spectroscopic approaches to understanding the materials used in manuscripts from Iran and India
  • Ellery Frahm (Yale) / Advances and applications of portable XRF in archaeological science
  • William Gilstrap (MIT) / Try, try again: Multiple technique investigation of Neolithic Chinese painted pottery technology
  • Richard Hark (Yale) / Application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for analysis of cultural heritage materials
  • Pablo Londero (Yale) / Variations of Raman spectroscopy in cultural heritage studies
  • Arthur McClelland (Harvard) / Specular reflection FTIR analysis of historic photographs
  • Ilaria Patania (Harvard) / Micro FTIR on clays and bone to estimate firing temperatures
  • Camilla Sturm (NYU) / Charting communities of exchange in the Neolithic Jianghan Plain with portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy

 

Instrument demonstrations by:

  • Olympus
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • SciAps