j.sab.2006.08.002

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  • 8/10/2019 j.sab.2006.08.002

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    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2006.08.002
  • 8/10/2019 j.sab.2006.08.002

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    mailto:SAB3423S0584-06)002401016/j.sab.2006.08.002Book%20reviewReport%20on%20%1CNonestructive%20microanalysis%20of%20cultural%20heritage%20materials%[email protected]%20des%20Sciences%20de%20la%20Terre,%20Ecole%20Normale%20Sup%E9%B2%A9eure%20de%20Lyon,%2046,%20allee%20d'Italie,%2069007%20Lyon,%20FranceReport%20on%20%1CNonestructive%20microanalysis%20of%20cultural%20heritage%20materials%1DThis%20highly%20informative%20book%20is%20part%20of%20the%20well%20known%20series%20of%20%1CComprehensive%20Analytical%20Chemistry%1D%20which%20has%20assembled%20an%20outstanding%20collection%20of%20reference%20works%20numbering%20forty%20one%20volumes%20so%20far.%20The%20current%20volume%20is%20dedicated%20to%20the%20cultural%20heritage%20field%20and%20brings%20together%20most%20of%20the%20methods%20of%20analysis%20routinely%20used%20in%20this%20field.%20The%20original%20part%20of%20this%20exhaustive%20presentation%20is%20however%20not%20the%20detailed%20description%20of%20the%20methods%20themselves,%20collected%20under%20the%20heading%20%1CAnalytical%20reference%20section%1D%20as%20the%20Reader%20has%20already%20encountered%20them%20has%20he%20been%20a%20faithful%20scholar%20of%20the%20series.%20It%20is%20rather%20the%20%1Ccocktail%1D%20part%20of%20this%20volume%20which%20is%20outstanding%20thanks%20to%20the%20efforts%20of%20the%20Belgian%20editors,%20well%20versed%20in%20this%20field.%20Their%20choice%20of%20%1Cingredients%1D%20and%20especially,%20their%20art%20of%20%1Cblending%1D,%20makes%20for%20a%20unique%20and%20tasteful%20assemblage.%20The%20second%20part,%20entitled%20%1CCase%20Studies%20section%1D%20thus%20contains%20pertinent%20examples%20of%20methods%20or%20rather%20combined%20methods%20applied%20to%20the%20Art%20and%20Archaeometry%20field,%20exposed%20down%20to%20their%20last%20details%20to%20our%20curiosity.%20This%20comprehensive%20section%20is%20the%20most%20interesting%20collection%20of%20such%20works%20in%20the%20past%20decade,%20enhanced%20by%20the%20addition%20of%20modern%20supplements%20imposed%20by%20the%20development%20of%20said%20analytical%20techniques.The%20only%20slight%20shortcoming%20I%20found,%20which%20is%20surely%20a%20professional%20bias%20for%20an%20Atomic%20physicist%20such%20as%20I,%20is%20that%20authors%20tend%20to%20overestimate%20firstly%20the%20nonestructiveness%20of%20the%20methods%20they%20employ%20and/or%20develop%20and%20secondly,%20they%20have%20developed%20a%20slightly%20proprietary%20confidence%20in%20the%20reliability%20and%20accuracy%20of%20these%20methods.%20As%20a%20developer%20of%20methods%20and/or%20instruments%20of%20microanalysis,%20one%20is%20frequently%20confronted%20to%20the%20inherent%20limitations%20of%20the%20specific%20measurements%20one%20handles%20which%20enforce%20certain%20methodological%20choices.%20No%20%1Cpanacea%1D%20exists%20for%20a%20complete%20class%20of%20problems,%20and%20even%20less%20for%20such%20a%20demanding%20one%20the%20cultural%20heritage%20field%20imposes.I%20therefore%20would%20like%20to%20propose,%20akin%20to%20Hippocrates,%20an%20oath%20applied%20to%20analyses%20for%20the%20cultural%20heritage%20world:Primum,%20non%20tangere%20!%20meaning,%20firstly,%20not%20to%20touch%20or%20damage%20the%20samples,%20which%20is%20the%20main%20requirement%20of%20this%20field%20dealing%20with%20unique%20and%20incomparable%20objects,%20so%20dear%20and%20so%20essential%20to%20our%20common%20knowledge.%20Next,%20one%20should%20extract%20the%20maximum%20amount%20of%20sensitive%20and%20accurate%20data,%20guaranteeing%20the%20possibility%20of%20later%20access%20to%20different%20instrumental%20techniques.%20Finally,%20even%20in%20the%20case%20of%20clearut%20answers,%20the%20revisiting%20of%20certain%20samples%20or%20studies%20in%20the%20light%20of%20modern%20instrumental%20techniques%20should%20always%20be%20considered.Exempli%20gratia,%20a%20few%20of%20the%20current%20chapters%20of%20Section%20I%20stand%20out%20and%20may%20easily%20serve%20as%20reference%20for%20Readers%20who%20teach%20in%20this%20field.The%20chapter%20on%20%1CElectron%20microscopy%1D%20by%20Adriaens%20and%20Dowsett%20is%20quite%20exhaustive%20and%20includes%20recent%20references%20to%20techniques%20such%20as%20Environmental%20Scanning%20Electron%20Microscopy%20(ESEM),%20Electron%20Energy%20Loss%20Spectroscopy%20(EELS)%20or%20Low%20Voltage%20SEM%20(LVSEM).%20Physical%20principle,%20instrumentation%20as%20well%20as%20sample%20preparation%20techniques%20are%20treated%20in%20detail%20by%20the%20authors%20to%20guide%20the%20Reader%20in%20the%20event%20of%20having%20to%20deal%20with%20analytical%20techniques%20involving%20electron%20microscopy.%20Examples%20dealing%20with%20glasses,%20ceramics%20and%20metals%20complete%20this%20didactic%20presentation.A%20very%20robust%20and%20modern%20survey%20of%20the%20field%20of%20X-ay%20methods%20is%20given%20in%20the%20chapter%20by%20Janssens.%20He%20presents%20X-ay%20fluorescence%20(XRF),%20diffraction%20(XRD)%20and%20absorption%20(XAS)%20together%20with%20associated%20instrumentation%20for%20producing%20and%20detecting%20X-ays.%20His%20survey%20includes%20synchrotron%20radiation%20instrumentation%20and%20methodology%20but%20also%20portable%20instruments%20thus%20spanning%20the%20field%20of%20applications%20from%20the%20Large%20Instruments%20or%20National%20Facilities,%20down%20to%20miniaturized,%20straightforward%20field%20probes.%20Examples%20are%20given%20for%20all%20of%20these%20methods%20applied%20to%20pigments,%20glazes,%20alloys,%20graphic%20documents,%20odontolites,%20cosmetics%20or%20mummy%20hair.The%20secondary%20ion%20mass%20spectrometry%20(SIMS)%20chapter%20is%20introduced%20by%20Darque%13Ceretti%20and%20Aucouturier%20who%20give%20a%20quite%20complete%20overview%20of%20the%20method.%20Applications%20to%20dating%20or%20provenance%20(not%20isotope%20dependent)%20of%20metal%20artifacts%20or%20emeralds,%20but%20also%20of%20glass%20degradation%20or%20bronze%20patina%20are%20well%20described.%20ToF%13SIMS%20methods%20are%20used%20to%20study%20surface%20related%20phenomena%20such%20as%20oilnduced%20degradation%20of%20smalt%20in%20paintings%20or%20of%20wool%20fiber%20bleaching%20but%20also%20of%20corrosion%20inhibitors%20serving%20in%20alloy%20conservation.With%20slight%20exceptions,%20the%20detailed%20examples%20presented%20in%20Section%20II%20propose%20a%20very%20efficient%20tutorial%20in%20how%20a%20specific%20study%20deals%20with%20specific%20samples%20which%20in%20turn%20impose%20the%20optimal%20methods%20of%20analysis.Demortier%20for%20instance,%20assembled%20a%20large%20body%20of%20data%20on%20precious%20metal%20artifacts%20used%20in%20jewellery,%20using%20mainly%20PIXE%20(Particle-nduced%20X-ay%20Emission)%20and%20PIGE%20(Particle-nduced%20Gamma-ay%20Emission)%20techniques.%20Gold%20artifacts%20from%20Roman%20or%20Byzantine%20periods%20were%20analyzed%20by%20PIXE%20at%20the%20surface%20in%20comparison%20with%20neutron%20activation%20bulk%20techniques.%20Specific%20morphology%20in%20jewellery%20items%20such%20as%20the%20soldering%20of%20gold%20was%20consistently%20investigated.%20Cu%13Ag%13Au%20ternary%20compositional%20diagrams%20manage%20to%20accurately%20cover%20the%20diversity%20of%20these%20items%20and%20cluster%20analysis%20on%20such%20diagrams%20is%20straightforward%20for%20describing%20provenance%20or%20specific%20metallurgical%20treatments.%20European%20but%20also%20American%20items%20are%20compared%20in%20great%20detail%20in%20the%20chapter,%20and%20Proton%20Activation%20Analysis%20(PAA)%20is%20used%20in%20parallel%20to%20LA-CPMS%20for%20completing%20these%20studies.Gratuze%20and%20Janssens%20produced%20an%20exhaustive%20body%20of%20work%20on%20glass%20artifacts,%20studying%20their%20provenance%20by%20means%20of%20LA-CPMS%20(Laser%20Ablation%20Inductively%20Coupled%20Plasma%20Mass%20Spectrometry)%20and%20FNAA%20(Fast%20Neutron%20Activation%20Analysis)%20techniques.%20Obsidian,%20then%20bronze%20and%20iron%20age%20glasses,%20Carolingian%20followed%20by%20middle%20age%20glasses%20and%20more%20up%20to%20probably%20the%20onset%20of%20modern%20glass%20production%20at%20the%20end%20of%20the%2018th%20and%20beginning%20of%20the%2019th%20century%20are%20covered%20in%20this%20study.%20A%20great%20variety%20of%20analyses%20were%20presented%20here,%20in%20a%20remarkably%20sound%20statistical%20way%20to%20cover%20over%20five%20thousand%20years%20of%20glass%20history.%20Major%20to%20minor%20elements%20analyses%20serve%20to%20constrain%20the%20sources%20of%20glass%20throughout%20history%20as%20well%20as%20their%20trade%20routes%20and%20distribution%20hubs.Finally,%20the%20Reader%20of%20this%20volume%20will%20be%20directly%20rewarded%20by%20the%20variety%20of%20methods%20covered%20and%20the%20relevancy%20of%20the%20examples%20treated.%20He%20will%20necessarily%20be%20a%20student%20of%20the%20cultural%20heritage%20field%20or%20even%20a%20professor%20looking%20for%20an%20up-oate%20reference%20but%20also%20a%20professional%20involved%20in%20conservation%20or%20remediation%20techniques%20and,%20why%20not,%20one%20of%20the%20numerous%20selfducated%20people%20who%20seek%20to%20improve%20their%20knowledge%20and%20understanding%20of%20the%20methods%20of%20analysis%20in%20this%20or%20related%20fields.Reader,%20prepare%20for%20a%20vast%20and%20diverse%20journey%20of%20eight%20hundred%20pages%20in%20the%20realm%20of%20Art%20processed%20by%20Scientific%20methods%20!The%20book%20is%20available%20in%20Europe,%20Middle-ast%20and%20Africa%20through%20Elsevier,%20Linacre%20House,%20Jordan%20Hill,%20Oxford%20OX2%208DP,%20UK%20and%20in%20the%20USA/Canada%20from%20Elsevier,%2011830%20Westline%20Industrial%20Drive,%20St.%20Louis,%20MO%2063146,%20U.S.A.