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 thiswork 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.
- Written in a style that is readily understandable by conservation scientists, archaeologists, museum curators, and students
- Provides an introduction to the advanced fields of synchrotron radiation science, neutron science, and computed tomography
- Outstanding review of the use of modern technology to study museum and archaeological artifacts
- Offers solutions through advanced scientific techniques to a wide range of problems facing museum staff

In Chapter 1 Dudley Creagh writes on "synchrotron radiation and its use in art, archaeometry, and cultural heritage studies." Loic Bertrand has written in Chapter 2 on synchrotron imaging for archaeology and art history, conservation, and palaeontology. Dr. Bertrand is Archaeology and cultural heritage officer at the new French synchrotron, Synchrotron Soleil (Orme les Mesuriers, Gif-sur-Yvette, France). He is charged with the task of raising the awareness of cultural heritage scientists to the use of synchrotron radiation for their research. Chapter 3 has been written by Ivan Cole and his associates Dr David Paterson and Deborah Lau. This is concerned with the holistic modelling of gas and aerosol deposition and the degradation of cultural objects. Dr. Cole is Deputy Chief of the Novel Materials and Processes Division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (Melbourne, Australia). He has over twenty years experience in involvement in projects concerned with the preservation of cultural heritage. Ivan is an internationally recognized leader in the field of the life cycle of materials and the development of protective coatings for metals. In Chapter 4, Giovanna Di Pietro describes two different types of experiments she has undertaken in the study of the mechanisms underlying the degradation of photographic media. In the first Dr. Di Pietro describes the degradation of old back-and-white plate. In the second she outlines her attempts to understand the mechanisms by which comparatively modern motion picture film degrades. A significant part of this project involved trying to ascertain exactly what dyes were used by Kodak in their motion picture film from about 1980 onwards. An entirely new technique for the remote investigation of the pigments in paintings is presented by Maria Kubik in Chapter 5. This technique will significantly enhance the ability of conservators to study the palette of pigments used by artists, check for repairs by others, and detect fraudulent paintings.
. Demonstrates the amazing efforts being made in using physical techniques for the study of art, archaeology and cultural heritage
. Provides succinct accounts of how cultural heritage is being preserved.
. Looks at how science is being used to enrich our knowledge of the creative arts"