Actes du Colloque Science des Matériaux du Patrimoine Culturel 2, Paris 20-21 novembre 2012, p. 12-17., 2013
Archaeological bone materials have registered a wealth of information on climatic and environment... more Archaeological bone materials have registered a wealth of information on climatic and environmental conditions, as well as on diets, in their chemical and isotopic composition. They represent, particularly for prehistoric periods, a key source of information. However, such markers of the environment and the human behaviour can be modified during their burial time and anthropogenic transformations by heating for instance. Modern experimental and archaeological heated as well as unheated bone material (Bize-Tournal, France, 15000 BP; Abri Pataud, France, 22000-33000 BP; Song Terus, Indonésie, 5000-70000 BP) have been studied using a top-down analytical strategy from the macro- to the microscale (FTIR, FTIR -ATR, Raman, SEM, μPIXE-PIGE, μSAXS and isotopic analyses) in order to better assess the influence of such alteration processes on the informative potential of archaeological bone remains. The application of the established methodology provided a better understanding of archaeological data, particularly in the framework of geochronological information obtained by 14C dating of calcined bones (case of Abri Pataud, Dordogne). It is, therefore, expected that the new analytical protocols will allow to better select the samples in order to extract more reliable archaeological information while minimising the amount of necessary material.
Potentiel informatif des ossements chauffés en contexte archéologique : imagerie chimique, moléculaire et cristallographique à micro-échelle et analyses isotopiques (OsIRIs).
Historical paintings with important iconographical changes represent an analytical challenge. Con... more Historical paintings with important iconographical changes represent an analytical challenge. Considering the case study of a fifteenth-century French painting studied during its restoration, the efficiency of a combined noninvasive approach of two-dimensional scanning macro-X-ray fluorescence imaging (MA-XRF) and a laboratory-based depth-resolved confocal micro-X-ray fluorescence (CXRF) is discussed. Large chemical maps of several elements were obtained by MA-XRF, enabling the identification of zones of interest representing changes in the painting composition. In these areas, depth profiles were measured with CXRF, allowing to evidence overlaying paint layers. The advantages of this technique are that it can give direct information on the stratigraphy of paint layers in a nondestructive way and can reduce the sampling needed, as well as increase the locations analyzed (in our study twenty-two depth-resolved scans). These results complement information obtained by scanning electron...
Naturwissenschaftliche Informationen, insbesondere die chemische Zusammensetzung der Objekte, kön... more Naturwissenschaftliche Informationen, insbesondere die chemische Zusammensetzung der Objekte, können Hinweise auf die Hintergründe der Objektherstellung liefern, die der alleinigen kunsthistorischen Begutachtung verborgen blieben. Es können nicht nur Fragen nach dem Prozess, Zeitpunkt und Ort der Herstellung beantwortet werden. Die chemische Analyse gibt auch Hinweise auf Ereignisse und Veränderungen, die erst nach der Fertigstellung des Objektes erfolgten. So werden Alterungsphänomene oder historische Überarbeitungen und Restaurierungen aufgedeckt, aber auch Konservierungsstrategien zur Erhaltung der Kunstwerke unterstützt. Durch den technologischen Fortschritt im Bereich der röntgenanalytischen Methoden, die berührungsfrei, ohne Probennahme und ohne Schädigung für das Untersuchungsobjekt arbeiten, erschließen sich dem Analytiker erstmalig Möglichkeiten, auch sehr wertvolle und fragile Objekte zerstörungsfrei zu untersuchen.
While the absorption of X-rays and gamma radiation is determined by the Z-number of the elements ... more While the absorption of X-rays and gamma radiation is determined by the Z-number of the elements a specimen is composed of, it is the hydrogen making an effective contrast with neutron imaging. As a consequence, interrogating with neutrons presents a suitable tool to study the distribution of organic consolidants in materials such as wood as encountered in impregnated wooden artworks. Four different examples of objects are presented here to demonstrate the potential of neutron CT: 1) small wooden pieces of ship wrecks (< 2 cm thickness) interrogated with cold neutrons (0.5 meV at the ANTARES facility of the FRM II in Garching) to demonstrate the potential and the limitation of using low energy neutrons, 2) a wooden statue soaked with carbolineum (fission neutrons 1.8 MeV at the NECTAR facility of the FRM II), 3) a smaller wooden figure of a skull heavily soaked with carbolineum so it was too tight for the fission neutrons used before with accelerator neutrons (broad range about 5...
During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type fr... more During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type from the Mediterranean area into the Celtic world. The density and the distinct patterns of their distribution are perfectly suited for the study of intra-European cultural contacts and trade relations due to their long-term importation.Despite the 130-year-old history of research on prehistoric corals, there have been hardly any extensive study. One reason for this limited interest is that corals lose their intense red colour and shiny surface structure due to poorly understood ageing processes. Hence, other light-coloured materials such as bone, ivory, chalk or shells, which were also used to decorate jewellery, are often mistaken for corals.We propose a multi-stage approach to identify red corals and light bio-minerals with emphasis on digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The instruments are portable and can therefore be used directly in the museums, allowing a very efcient work ...
Several written sources from the 19th and early 20th century indicate that, on the Melanesian arc... more Several written sources from the 19th and early 20th century indicate that, on the Melanesian archipelago of Santa Cruz, the heads of the war arrows were made of human bone. The aim of this study was to consider this behavior from the perspective of bone tool technology: confirm the choice of human bone as raw material and understand how it influenced the conception of the projectile and its point. A sample of 57 arrows collected on the Santa Cruz islands in the late 19th - early 20th century was thus studied in order to (1) establish the range of typological and technological variation in point design; (2) determine the nature of the raw materials used; (3) discuss the relationship between the two. The typological study shows that the arrowheads can be divided into two main categories, "large points" (10% of the sample) and "small points" (88% of the sample), and that the latter are designed as imitations of the former. Material analyses performed on four points...
Mammutelfenbein hatte in den frühesten Gesellschaften des Homo sapiens in Eurasien (=Aurignacien‐... more Mammutelfenbein hatte in den frühesten Gesellschaften des Homo sapiens in Eurasien (=Aurignacien‐Phase des frühen Jungpaläolithikums, 40 000–30 000 uncal. BP) eine große soziale und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung. Elfenbein war in dieser Zeit ein begehrter Rohstoff bei der Herstellung von Schmuckobjekten sowie der ältesten plastischen figurativen Kunst. Diese Zuschrift diskutiert die Ergebnisse von Mikro‐PIXE/PIGE‐Analysen an Artefakten aus Mammutelfenbein sowie an deren Fragmenten von fünf bedeutenden Aurignacien‐Fundstellen, für die eine Nutzung von Elfenbein belegt ist. Spezifische Muster variabler Fluor‐Gehalte weisen auf regional unterschiedliche Strategien zur Beschaffung von Elfenbein hin und lassen Unterschiede in den Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Mensch und Mammut erkennen. Biogene Spurenelementgehalte (Br, Sr, Zn), die in den Fundstücken konserviert sind, erlauben Rückschlüsse auf die Herkunft des genutzten Elfenbeins.
Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), Jan 9, 2018
Among the earliest Homo sapiens societies in Eurasia, the Aurignacian phase of the Early Upper Pa... more Among the earliest Homo sapiens societies in Eurasia, the Aurignacian phase of the Early Upper Palaeolithic, approximately 40,000-30,000 uncal. BP, mammoth ivory assumed great social and economic significance, and was used to create hundreds of personal ornaments as well as the earliest known works of three-dimensional figurative art in the world. This paper reports on the results of micro-PIXE/PIGE analyses of mammoth-ivory artefacts and debris from five major sites of Aurignacian ivory use. Patterns of variable F-content indicate regionally-distinct strategies of ivory procurement that correspond to apparent differences in human-mammoth interactions. Preserved trace elements (Br, Sr, Zn) indicate that differences at the regional level are applicable to sourcing Palaeolithic ivory at the regional scale.
Actes du Colloque Science des Matériaux du Patrimoine Culturel 2, Paris 20-21 novembre 2012, p. 12-17., 2013
Archaeological bone materials have registered a wealth of information on climatic and environment... more Archaeological bone materials have registered a wealth of information on climatic and environmental conditions, as well as on diets, in their chemical and isotopic composition. They represent, particularly for prehistoric periods, a key source of information. However, such markers of the environment and the human behaviour can be modified during their burial time and anthropogenic transformations by heating for instance. Modern experimental and archaeological heated as well as unheated bone material (Bize-Tournal, France, 15000 BP; Abri Pataud, France, 22000-33000 BP; Song Terus, Indonésie, 5000-70000 BP) have been studied using a top-down analytical strategy from the macro- to the microscale (FTIR, FTIR -ATR, Raman, SEM, μPIXE-PIGE, μSAXS and isotopic analyses) in order to better assess the influence of such alteration processes on the informative potential of archaeological bone remains. The application of the established methodology provided a better understanding of archaeological data, particularly in the framework of geochronological information obtained by 14C dating of calcined bones (case of Abri Pataud, Dordogne). It is, therefore, expected that the new analytical protocols will allow to better select the samples in order to extract more reliable archaeological information while minimising the amount of necessary material.
Potentiel informatif des ossements chauffés en contexte archéologique : imagerie chimique, moléculaire et cristallographique à micro-échelle et analyses isotopiques (OsIRIs).
Historical paintings with important iconographical changes represent an analytical challenge. Con... more Historical paintings with important iconographical changes represent an analytical challenge. Considering the case study of a fifteenth-century French painting studied during its restoration, the efficiency of a combined noninvasive approach of two-dimensional scanning macro-X-ray fluorescence imaging (MA-XRF) and a laboratory-based depth-resolved confocal micro-X-ray fluorescence (CXRF) is discussed. Large chemical maps of several elements were obtained by MA-XRF, enabling the identification of zones of interest representing changes in the painting composition. In these areas, depth profiles were measured with CXRF, allowing to evidence overlaying paint layers. The advantages of this technique are that it can give direct information on the stratigraphy of paint layers in a nondestructive way and can reduce the sampling needed, as well as increase the locations analyzed (in our study twenty-two depth-resolved scans). These results complement information obtained by scanning electron...
Naturwissenschaftliche Informationen, insbesondere die chemische Zusammensetzung der Objekte, kön... more Naturwissenschaftliche Informationen, insbesondere die chemische Zusammensetzung der Objekte, können Hinweise auf die Hintergründe der Objektherstellung liefern, die der alleinigen kunsthistorischen Begutachtung verborgen blieben. Es können nicht nur Fragen nach dem Prozess, Zeitpunkt und Ort der Herstellung beantwortet werden. Die chemische Analyse gibt auch Hinweise auf Ereignisse und Veränderungen, die erst nach der Fertigstellung des Objektes erfolgten. So werden Alterungsphänomene oder historische Überarbeitungen und Restaurierungen aufgedeckt, aber auch Konservierungsstrategien zur Erhaltung der Kunstwerke unterstützt. Durch den technologischen Fortschritt im Bereich der röntgenanalytischen Methoden, die berührungsfrei, ohne Probennahme und ohne Schädigung für das Untersuchungsobjekt arbeiten, erschließen sich dem Analytiker erstmalig Möglichkeiten, auch sehr wertvolle und fragile Objekte zerstörungsfrei zu untersuchen.
While the absorption of X-rays and gamma radiation is determined by the Z-number of the elements ... more While the absorption of X-rays and gamma radiation is determined by the Z-number of the elements a specimen is composed of, it is the hydrogen making an effective contrast with neutron imaging. As a consequence, interrogating with neutrons presents a suitable tool to study the distribution of organic consolidants in materials such as wood as encountered in impregnated wooden artworks. Four different examples of objects are presented here to demonstrate the potential of neutron CT: 1) small wooden pieces of ship wrecks (< 2 cm thickness) interrogated with cold neutrons (0.5 meV at the ANTARES facility of the FRM II in Garching) to demonstrate the potential and the limitation of using low energy neutrons, 2) a wooden statue soaked with carbolineum (fission neutrons 1.8 MeV at the NECTAR facility of the FRM II), 3) a smaller wooden figure of a skull heavily soaked with carbolineum so it was too tight for the fission neutrons used before with accelerator neutrons (broad range about 5...
During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type fr... more During the Iron Age, red corals (Corallium rubrum) were the most frequent imported object type from the Mediterranean area into the Celtic world. The density and the distinct patterns of their distribution are perfectly suited for the study of intra-European cultural contacts and trade relations due to their long-term importation.Despite the 130-year-old history of research on prehistoric corals, there have been hardly any extensive study. One reason for this limited interest is that corals lose their intense red colour and shiny surface structure due to poorly understood ageing processes. Hence, other light-coloured materials such as bone, ivory, chalk or shells, which were also used to decorate jewellery, are often mistaken for corals.We propose a multi-stage approach to identify red corals and light bio-minerals with emphasis on digital microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The instruments are portable and can therefore be used directly in the museums, allowing a very efcient work ...
Several written sources from the 19th and early 20th century indicate that, on the Melanesian arc... more Several written sources from the 19th and early 20th century indicate that, on the Melanesian archipelago of Santa Cruz, the heads of the war arrows were made of human bone. The aim of this study was to consider this behavior from the perspective of bone tool technology: confirm the choice of human bone as raw material and understand how it influenced the conception of the projectile and its point. A sample of 57 arrows collected on the Santa Cruz islands in the late 19th - early 20th century was thus studied in order to (1) establish the range of typological and technological variation in point design; (2) determine the nature of the raw materials used; (3) discuss the relationship between the two. The typological study shows that the arrowheads can be divided into two main categories, "large points" (10% of the sample) and "small points" (88% of the sample), and that the latter are designed as imitations of the former. Material analyses performed on four points...
Mammutelfenbein hatte in den frühesten Gesellschaften des Homo sapiens in Eurasien (=Aurignacien‐... more Mammutelfenbein hatte in den frühesten Gesellschaften des Homo sapiens in Eurasien (=Aurignacien‐Phase des frühen Jungpaläolithikums, 40 000–30 000 uncal. BP) eine große soziale und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung. Elfenbein war in dieser Zeit ein begehrter Rohstoff bei der Herstellung von Schmuckobjekten sowie der ältesten plastischen figurativen Kunst. Diese Zuschrift diskutiert die Ergebnisse von Mikro‐PIXE/PIGE‐Analysen an Artefakten aus Mammutelfenbein sowie an deren Fragmenten von fünf bedeutenden Aurignacien‐Fundstellen, für die eine Nutzung von Elfenbein belegt ist. Spezifische Muster variabler Fluor‐Gehalte weisen auf regional unterschiedliche Strategien zur Beschaffung von Elfenbein hin und lassen Unterschiede in den Wechselbeziehungen zwischen Mensch und Mammut erkennen. Biogene Spurenelementgehalte (Br, Sr, Zn), die in den Fundstücken konserviert sind, erlauben Rückschlüsse auf die Herkunft des genutzten Elfenbeins.
Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English), Jan 9, 2018
Among the earliest Homo sapiens societies in Eurasia, the Aurignacian phase of the Early Upper Pa... more Among the earliest Homo sapiens societies in Eurasia, the Aurignacian phase of the Early Upper Palaeolithic, approximately 40,000-30,000 uncal. BP, mammoth ivory assumed great social and economic significance, and was used to create hundreds of personal ornaments as well as the earliest known works of three-dimensional figurative art in the world. This paper reports on the results of micro-PIXE/PIGE analyses of mammoth-ivory artefacts and debris from five major sites of Aurignacian ivory use. Patterns of variable F-content indicate regionally-distinct strategies of ivory procurement that correspond to apparent differences in human-mammoth interactions. Preserved trace elements (Br, Sr, Zn) indicate that differences at the regional level are applicable to sourcing Palaeolithic ivory at the regional scale.
Nanoscale studies of bone provide key indicators to evidence subtle structural changes that may o... more Nanoscale studies of bone provide key indicators to evidence subtle structural changes that may occur in the biomedical, forensic and archaeological contexts. One specific problem encountered in all those disciplines, for which the identification of nanostructural cues could prove useful, is to properly monitor the effect of heating on bone tissue. In particular, the mechanisms at work at the onset of heating are still relatively unclear. Using a multiscale approach combining Raman microspectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), synchrotron quantitative scanning small-angle X-ray scattering imaging (qsSAXSI) and polarized light (PL) microscopy, we investigate the ultrastructure of cortical bovine bone heated at temperatures < 300°C, from the molecular to the macroscopic scale. We show that, despite limited changes in crystal structure, the mineral nanoparticles increase in thickness and become strongly disorganized upon heating. Furthermore, while the nanostructure in ...
The Sound of Bones. Proceedings of the 8th Meeting of the ICAZ Worked Bone Research Group in Salzburg 2011, F. Lang (dir.), Salzburg, Archæoplus (Schriften zur Archäologie und Archäometrie an der Paris Lodron-Universität Salzburg, 5), p. 203-216., 2013
Several written sources from the 19th and early 20th century indicate that, on the Melanesian arc... more Several written sources from the 19th and early 20th century indicate that, on the Melanesian archipelago of Santa Cruz, the heads of the war arrows were made of human bone. The aim of this study was to consider this behavior from the perspective of bone tool technology: confirm the choice of human bone as raw material and understand how it influenced the conception of the projectile and its point. A sample of 57 arrows collected on the Santa Cruz islands in the late 19th - early 20th century was thus studied in order to (1) establish the range of typological and technological variation in point design; (2) determine the nature of the raw materials used; (3) discuss the relationship between the two. The typological study shows that the arrowheads can be divided into two main categories, "large points" (10% of the sample) and "small points" (88% of the sample), and that the latter are designed as imitations of the former. Material analyses performed on four points show that the large points are made of bone, the species of which could not be determined; however the small points, which make up the large majority of the sample, are not made of bone but probably of keratinous material. This apparent discordance between the written record and the analysis of the artifacts may be due the heterogeneous and patchy nature of our sources, or to the existence, in the culture of the Santa Cruz islanders, of a gap between the ideology and the actual technical practice.
During the Central European Iron Age, and more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious ... more During the Central European Iron Age, and more specifically between 600 and 100 BC, red precious corals (Corallium rubrum) became very popular in many regions, often associated with the so-called (early) Celts. Red corals are ideally suited to investigate several key questions of Iron Age research like trade patterns, or social and economic structures. While it is fairly easy to distinguish modern C. rubrum from bone, ivory, or shells, archaeologists are confronted with ancient, hence altered, artifacts. Due to ageing processes, archaeological corals lose their intensive red color and shiny surface, and can easily be confused with these other light-colored materials. We propose a non-destructive multi-stage approach with emphasis on optical examination and mobile Raman spectroscopy to identify archaeological corals amongst other biominerals.
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Proceedings by Ina Reiche
Potentiel informatif des ossements chauffés en contexte archéologique : imagerie chimique, moléculaire et cristallographique à micro-échelle et analyses isotopiques (OsIRIs).
Papers by Ina Reiche
Potentiel informatif des ossements chauffés en contexte archéologique : imagerie chimique, moléculaire et cristallographique à micro-échelle et analyses isotopiques (OsIRIs).