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Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is ideally suited to the cultural heritage sector due to the ability to apply it minimally or non-destructively with limited sample preparation, fast analysis times (spectra can be obtained in a matter of minutes), relatively low cost, and relative ease of use. FTIR has been applied to answer a range of archaeological research questions through analysis of both organic and inorganic materials. Examples include determining the firing temperatures of archaeological clays or identifying types of textile.

The article considers insufficiently studied problem of preservation underwater archaeology paper objects. The author shares good practical experience conservation and restoration of unique artefacts found by archaeologists on the merchant ship « Die Engiel Raphael » (Archangel Raphael) sanked almost 300 years ago. The main attention is focused on an integrated approach and consolidation of the efforts of restorers, underwater archaeologists and divers, researchers to determine the conservation method. In constant close collaboration with specialists from the workshop for graphics, books and documents conservation of the Grabar Art Conservation Center and of the Center for Underwater Research of the Russian Geographical Society has been developed a method for the conservation of four underwater archaeology paper objects. The article presents the results of research and restoration. Various techniques for drying, separating of cemented book-pages and ultrasonic cleaning for removing sandy-clay pieces, deeply embedded from the paper structure, are described. In developing main guidelines emphasized of conservation work for underwater artifacts, highlights the need for a special approach to each object and creation an individual program for restoration activities, taking into account its specifics. In forming the general basic principles of conservation of underwater artefacts, the necessity of a special approach to each object and drawing up an individual program of restoration measures, taking into account its specifics, is noted.

Cultural heritage objects present a special set of challenges for chemical analysis. Often micro-sampling or even contacting the object is deemed an unacceptable risk to the object. This study examined if specular reflection FTIR, a non-sampling and non-contact analytical technique, can provide insight into chemical composition of the layered coatings on Frédéric Flachéron’s paper negatives (1848–1852) in the Harrison D. Horblit Collection of Early Photography, in Houghton Library, at Harvard University. Specular reflection FTIR data confirmed the identification of beeswax and sandarac as the transparentizing media on Flachéron’s paper negatives, as previously published by Lee Ann Daffner. However, specular reflection FTIR analysis also indicated that some negatives had additional localized coatings of orange shellac in specific areas of the images. To understand why Flachéron retouched his negatives with orange shellac, modern experimental replications of the paper negative process were performed. Through modern experimentation with the paper negative technique, it was found that Flachéron’s coatings of shellac served as an integral part of his image-altering technique. The color of the orange shellac subtly alters contrast and density, but it does not mask an area the way an opaque watercolor or highly pigmented paint might. The fine adjustments to the negatives with orange shellac were an attempt to perfect the contrast in the print, and better render depth and detail. These discoveries add to a growing body of recent research that points to the historic and art historic importance of negatives and coatings in photography. The specificity with which specular reflection FTIR was able to nondestructively identify the chemical composition of the local coating, and specifically target the analysis on the areas in which it appeared, allowed for an understanding of Flachéron’s use of local coatings as a retouching method rather than a protective coating.

Archaeological LiDAR has evolved into an indispensable component of archaeological prospection and landscape archaeology. However, it is frequently employed as a black-box digital method, which confines it to the realm of a specialized field. Making scientific publications more accessible, transparent, and reproducible is one of the steps required to turn LiDAR into a background method for all archaeologists. This is possible, according to our proposal, through the Executable Map Paper concept. This concept can be understood as a type of executable paper that pursues Open Science’s goals. The proposed technical solution consists of a PDF frontend, a persistence layer, and a hyperlinked interactive map. Executable Map Paper is applicable to all map-dependent sciences, including geography, geology, and any geoscience. In this paper, we outline the theoretical context, propose technical solutions, and provide a practical illustration.

During the archaeological research conducted in 2019 under the project “The Former Headquarters of the Gestapo and the Communist Provincial Office of Public Security in Anstadt Avenue in Łódź. Interdisciplinary Site Research” under the supervision of Dr Olgierd Ławrynowicz, an object filled with products on a paper base and bookbinding materials was found in one of the excavations. This paper attempts to clarify the chronology of paper products and to identify their type (typescripts, prints of monetary value, books, bookbinding materials, arrangement drawings, other paper products) and the material used. The visible content was identified using basic research methods and digital photographic documentation of it was made to preserve it.

Paper materials and works of art on paper such as drawings, watercolors, prints, books, and manuscripts represent a large portion of museum, archive, and library collections. However, paper materials are infrequently the subject of technical studies due to inherent limitations in their analysis such as the fragility of the paper substrate, a lack of suitable sampling opportunities, and the presence of mixed, but chemically similar cellulosic materials. The application of principal component analysis (PCA) modeling to specular reflection FTIR data has the potential to provide a non-invasive means of analysis for major and minor components in paper materials. Using known study collection objects, PCA models distinguishing paper sizing materials and fiber types based on specular reflection FTIR data were successfully demonstrated thus providing a plausible alternative method for the identification of paper materials in collection objects without the need for destructive testing or sampling of the object.

Paper aging and protection processes play an essential function in the preservation of library collections and archives. In this study, some physical-mechanical properties of paper samples from XXth century books (private collections), such as pH acidity, tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity, as well as optical properties, such as absolute change in yellowness, were examined before and after treating them with hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAp). Accelerated light aging was also evaluated and discussed. The treatment with HAp nanoparticles increased the paper’s pH to slightly alkaline values (approximately pH 8). Washing and treating the paper improved its mechanical properties compared to untreated paper; the tear length increased by 35% and the modulus of elasticity increased by 56%. That the treated and aged samples are more elastic than the original samples demonstrates that HAp nanoparticles consolidated the cellulose fibers. Additionally, particle morphology, size, composition and size distribution were assessed via image analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the ImageJ processing program.

Natural ageing has a major influence on the properties of paper, while light, heat, and humidity are the environmental influences that most disrupt the stability of paper. This research focuses on changes in straw-containing papers caused by accelerated ageing. The papers were made in the laboratory by mixing straw pulp with the pulp of recycled fibers in different weight ratios and were artificially aged by a dry-heat treatment (thermal oxidation) and UV radiation treatment (photo-oxidation) over a 24 h period to simulate natural ageing. The observed changes in the optical, surface, and chemical stability of papers were analyzed and are discussed in this paper. It is evident that, regardless of the origin of straw for pulp production, it forms papers that undergoes similar optical properties (photo-yellowing and brightness lose), while certain differences have been observed in surface and chemical stability. Based on all analyses performed as part of this research, it was found that paper produced with the addition of wheat pulp is the most stable of all laboratory straw-containing papers. However, it must be emphasized that, if lignin-containing straw pulp is used as the main constituent of paper, the brightness stability of such pulp must be improved, or the paper surface must be improved by surface finishing in order to obtain greater stability against ageing.

Recently, historical and conservation studies have attached an increasing importance to investigating the materials used in historic documents. In particular, the identification of the animal species from which parchments are made is of high importance and is currently performed by either genetic or proteomic methods. Here, we introduce an innovative, non-invasive optical method for identifying animal species based on light-parchment interaction. The method relies on conservation of light energy through reflection, transmission and absorption from the sample, as well as on statistical processing of the collected optical data. Measurements are performed from ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared (NIR) spectral ranges by a standard spectrophotometer and data are processed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). PCA data from modern parchments, made of sheep, calf and goat skins, are used as a database for PCA analysis of historical parchments. Using only the first two principal components (PCs), the method confirmed visual diagnostics about parchment appearance and aging, and was able to recognise the origin species of historical parchment of among database clusters. Furthermore, taking into account the whole set of PCs, species identification was achieved, with all results matching perfectly their proteomic counterparts used for method assessment. The validated method compares favourably with genetic and proteomic methods used for the same purpose. In addition to animals' proteomic and genetic signatures, a unique "optical fingerprint" of the parchments' origin species is revealed here. This new method is non-invasive, straightforward to implement, potentially cheap and accessible to scholars and conservators, with minimal training. In the context of cultural heritage, the method could help solving questions related to parchment production and, more generally, medieval writing production.

[Ar] تقييم كفاءة الثيمول كاحدى اجراءات الصيانة والترميم تطبيقا على السجلات الورقية المصابة بدار المحفوظات المصرية دار المحفوظات الوطنية المصرية هى ثاني أقدم دار أرشيفية فى العالم من أجل حماية جميع الوثائق والأوراق الأثرية والتاريخية الرسمية من الضياع والسرقة. والدار تمتلئ بنحو 150 مليون وثيقة أثرية وتاريخية رسمية.الا انه وللأسف الشديد اغلب هذه المواد الأثرية قد تعرضت لتدهور بيولوجى مما أدى إلى خسارة كبيرة. ومن هنا تظهر أهمية استخدام مبيدات الفطريات وقد وقع الاختيار على أحد أكثر المبيدات شيوعا فى مجال الاثار وهو «الثيمول» لدراسة مدى كفاءته تجاه الفطريات عند استخدامه بتركيزات مختلفة. هذا إلى جانب دراسة أولوية الحفظ للأرشيف الورقى المكتوب بخط اليد لعقود الزواج «بمحكمة دمياط» لما له من أهمية كبيرة في إبراز معلومات غاية فى الاهمية وثائقيا وذلك بعد تعرضه لعدوى فطرية. استراتيجيات عمليات الترميم والصيانة التى تمت بالدراسة تتم من اجل الحفاظ على هذا الدفتر الورقى من أجل الحفاظ عليه لما يحويه من معلومات أثرية هامة. كما تم استخدام بعض التقنيات الفحوص والتحليل خلال الدراسة وهى: طريقة حيود الأشعة السينية (XRD) للتعرف على الحبر الكربونى، والتحليل الطيفى للأشعة تحت الحمراء (FTIR) لتحديد المادة الرابطة للاحبارالمستخدمة ومدى بلورة السيليلوزالمكون الرئيسى للورق، حيث أظهرت النتائج أن الحبر الأسود المستخدم فلا الوئاثق الورقية بالدفتر عبارة عن كربون وأن المادة الرابطة للحبر هى الصمغ العربي. تم تطبيق عدة خطوات لترميم الدفتر مثل عملية التنظيف، تثبيت الأحبار، فرد الأوراق، إصلاح التمزقات، تدعيم الأجزاء الضعيفة وإزالة الترميمات السابقة غير المناسبة.وعلى هذا تهدف هذه الدراسة إلى إلقاء الضوء على دار المحفوظات الوطنية المصرية وإبراز دورها المهم في حماية وحفظ الوثائق الأثرية والتاريخية فضلا عن تقييم كفاءة الثيمول تجاه الفطريات باستخدام تركيزات مختلفة مع شرح أهم إجراءات الترميم المختارة للدفتر الورقى المكتوب بخط اليد الخاص بعقود الزواج بمحكمة دمياط. [En] The Egyptian National Archives Dar-Elmahfouzat is the second oldest archive house in the world built in order to protect all the official archaeological and historical documents and papers from loss and theft. It possesses about 150 million official archaeological and historical documents. Unfortunately, all these archaeological materials are exposed to biological degradation which results in great loss. Hence the importance of using fungicides. The choice fell on one of the most commonly used in the field “thymol” and its efficiency towards fungi in different concentrations. The author gives the priority of conservation to this important handwritten paper archive of the marriage contracts' of Damietta court, because of their great importance to posterity and to highlight such significant historical data threatened by fungal infection. The specific conservation strategies employed to conserve this paper archive were meant to keep them safe and secure and to give us the important archaeological information that they contain. Also some analytical methods were used here: X-ray diffraction (XRD) method for identifying the carbon ink, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) for determining the ink binder and the paper crystallinity. The results revealed that the black ink was carbon and ink binder was Gum Arabic. Different types of conservation processes were used: Cleaning process; fixing the inks; flattening and crease removal; repairing tears and supporting the weaker parts in completion process; and inappropriate previous repairs removal. This study aims to shed light on the Egyptian National Archives Dar-Elmahfouzat and highlight its important role. Also clarifying its importance in protecting and preserving the archaeological and historical documents, explain the thymol efficiency towards fungi in different concentrations and the most important treatment procedures for the selected handwritten paper archive of the marriage contracts of the court of Damietta.

This paper introduces the Watermark Imaging System (WImSy) which can be used to photograph, document, and study sheets of paper. The WImSy provides surface images, raking light images, and transmitted light images of the paper, all in perfect alignment. We develop algorithms that exploit this alignment by combining several images together in a process that mimics both the “surface image removal” technique and the method of “high dynamic range” photographs. An improved optimization criterion and an automatic parameter selection procedure streamline the process and make it practical for art historians and conservators to extract the relevant information to study watermarks. The effectiveness of the method is demonstrated in several experiments on images taken with the WImSy at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the results are compared with manually optimized images.

The aim of this study was to identify the nature and cause of foxing spots in a historical manuscript. This manuscript was a Holy Quran from the beginning of the Qajar period and the end of the 18th century. Samples were incubated for 14 days and were evaluated for the presence of fungal activity. UV fluorescence photography, micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were also used to investigate the characteristics and causes of foxing spots. The results showed that there was no fungal activity in the foxing spots of this manuscript. Based on the morphology of the stain in UV fluorescence photography, these foxing stains are of the Bullseye type, usually associated with metal ions. µXRF spectroscopy also showed a high accumulation of iron and copper at the site of these spots. This indicates abiotic foxing in this manuscript. Based on FTIR spectroscopy and peak deconvolution and fitting by Gaussian function, abiotic foxing increases the cellulose oxidation rate. Intensification of cellulose oxidation in foxing stains can be considered as one of the reasons for paper discoloration.

The Gatehouse Project at Pontefract Castle took place between September 2019 and August 2020. This data paper describes the project data from the community focused archaeological investigation undertaken by DigVentures.

High Speed 2 (HS2) will be the largest programme of historic environment investigation and recording works ever undertaken in the UK. It is certain that the creation of HS2's historic environment physical and digital archive (High Speed Two Ltd. 2023) is an integral part of the lasting legacy of the programme, which presents an unprecedented opportunity for significant knowledge creation. HS2 historic environment works that have been undertaken for Phase One of HS2 between London to the West Midlands has resulted in a substantial digital archive, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. This data paper highlights the GIS spatial datasets generated from the HS2 Phase One historic environment fieldwork programme. It explains the technical components of the datasets which are deposited with the Archaeology Data Service (ADS).

The dating of organic findings is a fundamental task for many scientific fields. Radiocarbon dating is currently the most commonly used method. For wood, dendrochronology is another state-of-the-art method. Both methods suffer from systematic restrictions, leading to samples that have not yet been able to be dated. Molecular changes over time are reported for many materials under different preservation conditions. Many of them are intrinsically monotonous. These monotonous molecular decay (MD) patterns can be understood as clocks that start at the time when a given molecule was formed. Factors that influence these clocks include input material composition and preservation conditions. Different wood species, degrees of pyrolysis, and pretreatments lead to different prediction models. Preservation conditions might change the speed of a given clock and lead to different prediction models. Currently published models for predicting the age of wood, paper, and parchment depend on infrared spectroscopy. In contrast to radiocarbon dating, dating via MD does not comprise a single methodology. Some clocks may deliver less precise results than the others. Ultimately, developing a completely different, new dating strategy-such as MD dating-will help to bring to light a treasure trove of information hidden in the darkness of organic findings., (© 2021 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of New York Academy of Sciences.)

The concept of mock-up, which share with the drawing the expressive synthesis for the analysis of the architectural form and evolution, is an invaluable asset for the preservation of the heritage. To mark the 175th anniversary of the Práxedes Mateo Sagasta’s secondary school of Logroño (Spain), an exhibition about the history of the institution was organized at the premises of La Rioja Library. The current school building became operational in 1900 and was built on the former site of a Carmelite convent. In fact, the convent rooms were the first location for the school, after the expropriations of religious communities during the mid-19th century. For the benefit of the aforementioned exhibition, it was considered interesting to generate a three-dimensional (3D) virtual reconstruction of the convent buildings to show how it would have looked. However, the lack of sufficient contemporary graphic information was a challenge, so it was decided that an efficient solution would be to generate the virtual reconstruction from a paper craft model, which had been created by the librarian of the secondary school as a result of his research on this matter. This text describes the 3D modelling of that cut-out element by means of monoscopic photogrammetry (perspective drawing) and the use of non-realistic rendering based on the appearance of the paper mock-up (and not trying to recreate the real image of the buildings) so as to provide a suggestive view of the convent and create interactive exhibition items. Moreover, the text deals with the long-term preservation and the improvement of the re-use of the 3D models. The former by resorting to institutional repositories —from which users can download the full detailed versions— and the latter employing versions able to be visualized in 3D warehouses (such as Sketchfab) and augmented reality (AR) applications. Highlights: • A significant part of the architectural heritage is represented by mock-ups of different materials (paper, wood, metal and so on). • Virtual modelling and augmented reality (AR) can be appropriate tools for materializing, recovering and disseminating scale models to the public. • Techniques for geometric documentation and visual representation need to be adapted in order to tackle the peculiar features of these elements (size, materials, fragility, etc.).

Melanins play a fundamental role in the biology and ecology of several fungal species. Unfortunately, this group of amorphous macromolecules also severely (and most times irreversibly) stains cultural heritage objects. Despite efforts made throughout the years, knowledge of the chemical composition and structure of melanins is still insufficient, which hampers the task of safely cleaning these colourants from cultural heritage materials in a targeted way without causing further deterioration. This work aimed therefore to contribute towards enlightening the characteristics of fungal melanins from three fungi that are common paper colonizers: Aspergillus niger, Chaetomium globosum and Cladosporium cladosporioides. The extracted melanins were characterized by FTIR, Raman, UV-vis, Solid-State NMR and MALDI-TOF MS spectroscopies and the effect of inhibitors of DHN-melanin and DOPA-melanin pathways on colony pigmentation and growth was evaluated. Although all the extracted colourants show a predominantly aromatic structure with carbonyl and phenolic groups, some differences between the melanins can be highlighted. Melanins obtained from Ch. globosum and Cl. cladosporioides exhibited similar structures and composition and both presented DHN-melanin characteristics, while A. niger’s melanins revealed a more complex and ordered structure, with a higher prevalence of highly conjugated carbonyls than the others, besides the additional presence of a yellow/green component. These conclusions cannot be overlooked while selecting targeted cleaning methodologies for melanin stains on cultural heritage materials.

Mitigation of fungal biodeterioration on paper documents and artworks represents a challenge to conservators worldwide. Numerous lists of fungal species have been identified from paper collections, but are those species responsible for the respective biodeterioration phenomena or just environmental contaminants? The present work was aimed at obtaining an association between specific fungal stains and causative fungal species. 23 stains from three paper documents were sampled. Fungal structures observed in situ with optical and scanning electron microscopy were compared with the identification of isolates by molecular biology tools. Correlation between the observed fungal structures and the identified fungal isolates was achieved, varying from 13% to 64% of the samples within the three studied documents. Grey/black and dark brown stains were associated with Chaetomium globosum, C. murorum, Penicillium chrysogenum, P. commune, Myxotrichum deflexum and Stachybotrys chartarum. Eurotium rubrum was isolated from a foxing stain and Penicillium citrinum was identified on light orange stains.

The FeedSax project combined bioarchaeological data with evidence from settlement archaeology to investigate how, when and why the expansion of arable farming occurred between the 8th-13th centuries in England. It has generated and released a vast, multi-faceted archaeological dataset both to underpin its own published findings and to support further research.

We studied the feasibility of image-based quantitative analysis of foxing stains on collections of old (16th−20th century) European books stored in the Rare Book Library of the Seoul National University in Korea. We were able to quantitatively determine the foxing affected areas on books from their photographs using a newly developed image processing software (PicMan) including cultural property characterization applications, specifically. Dimensional and color analysis of photographs were successfully done quantitatively. Histograms of RGB (red, green, blue) pixels of photographs clearly showed the change in color distribution of foxing stains compared to the other areas of the photographs. Several sample images of quantitative measurement of foxing stains and virtually restored images were generated to provide easy visual inspection and comparison between restored images and the original photographs. Image quality, resolution, and digital file format requirements for quantitative analysis are described. Image-based quantitative analysis of foxing stains on paper documents are found to be very promising towards automation for objective characterization of photographs of cultural properties. This technique can be used to create a cultural property digital database. Quantitative and statistical analysis techniques can be introduced to monitor the effect of storage and conservation environment on the cultural properties.

This paper proposed phytoliths as promising for identifying and distinguishing sources of fibre in Chinese handmade papers. For an initial methodological exploration, two types of Raw Xuan (unprocessed Xuan paper) and the two plant materials used in making them—namely rice straw and bark from blue sandalwood (Pteroceltis tatarinowii Maxim.)—were collected. The dry ashing method was used to extract phytoliths from Raw Xuan and its plant materials. The results can be summarized as follows. First, phytoliths characteristic of rice (Oryza sativa) were abundant in both rice straw and Raw Xuan. By looking for rice phytoliths, it is possible to tell whether or not rice straw fibre is used in a particular paper. Second, hair cell phytoliths were observed in considerable quantities in blue sandalwood bark, but absent in the examined papers. Heat experiments showed that phytoliths in blue sandalwood were resistant to long-term heat and they would unlikely be eliminated when exposed to the heat in papermaking (with heat source barely above 200°C). It is hypothesised that they dissolved while cooked in an alkaline pH (limewater). Further studies are necessary to understand whether phytoliths in blue sandalwood—while cooked in limewater—undergo morphological changes and, if yes, how.