Analytical Imaging of Cultural Heritage by Synchrotron Radiation and Visible Light - near Infrared Spectroscopy

Abstract

Imaging is an important tool for analyzing cultural heritage. Due to its delicate nature, the analysis presents numerous technical challenges, probably the most important of which is its requirement for non-destructive and non-invasive investigation. In this study, two techniques used in the analysis of cultural heritage are presented. The first one, synchrotron radiation x-ray fluorescence, is an advanced analytical technique with high accuracy and good spatial resolution. On the other hand, spectroscopic technique based on visible light-near infrared spectrum is becoming popular due to some information that it can provide, which are not available even in advanced analytical techniques. These two techniques were used to analyze real cultural heritage such as an ancient Mongolian textile, traditional Korean painting and commonly used pigments in Japanese paintings. The results revealed that using synchrotron radiation-based techniques is sometimes not enough in providing critical information (e.g. spectral reflectance, color, etc.) necessary for understanding of cultural heritage. This can be complemented using visible light-near infrared technique.