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Seeing through Corrosion: Using Micro-focus X-ray Computed Tomography and Neutron Computed Tomography to Digitally “Clean” Ancient Bronze Coins

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2011

Hai-Yen Nguyen ,
Steven Keating ,
George Bevan ,
Alexander Gabov ,
Mark Daymond ,
Burkhard Schillinger  and
Alison Murray
Hai-Yen Nguyen
Affiliation:
Art Conservation Program, Department of Art, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Steven Keating
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
George Bevan
Affiliation:
Department of Classics, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Alexander Gabov
Affiliation:
Conservation of Sculpture and Monuments, Kingston, ON, Canada
Mark Daymond
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
Burkhard Schillinger
Affiliation:
Technische Universität München, FRM-II and Physics E21, Garching, Germany
Alison Murray
Affiliation:
Art Conservation Program, Department of Art, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada
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Abstract

Vast numbers of bronze coins have been, and continue to be, excavated from archaeological sites around the Greco-Roman world. While often of little value from a strictly numismatic point of view, these coins provide invaluable data within their respective stratigraphic contexts and are used to date occupational and architectural phases more precisely than by ceramics alone. Unfortunately, the build-up of corrosion and mineralization on these coins during their centuries of burial often obscures their legends. Rather than employing potentially destructive and time-consuming chemical or mechanical cleaning techniques to reveal these features, commercially available Micro-focus X-Ray CT systems are now sufficiently well developed to reveal original surface features and to permit identification by a trained numismatist without any cleaning at all.

Keywords

x-ray tomographyx-ray diffraction (XRD)x-ray fluorescence
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1319: Symposium WW – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IX , 2011 , mrsf10-1319-ww03-05
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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References

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