X-RAY SUB-MICRON TOMOGRAPHY AS A TOOL FOR THE STUDY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL WOOD PRESERVED THROUGH THE CORROSION OF METAL OBJECTS

Wood preserved in the corrosion layer of two early medieval iron objects was examined using X‐ray tomography. A state‐of‐the art multi‐resolution X‐ray tomography set‐up (http://www.ugct.ugent.be) provided virtual cross‐sections of the archaeological wood samples at sub‐micron resolution. These were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inArchaeometry Vol. 54; no. 5; pp. 893 - 905
Main Authors HANECA, K., DEFORCE, K., BOONE, M. N., VAN LOO, D., DIERICK, M., VAN ACKER, J., VAN DEN BULCKE, J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.10.2012
Subjects
ARCHAEOLOGY
METAL CORROSION
MINERALIZATION
WOOD-IDENTIFICATION
X-RAY TOMOGRAPHY
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Summary:Wood preserved in the corrosion layer of two early medieval iron objects was examined using X‐ray tomography. A state‐of‐the art multi‐resolution X‐ray tomography set‐up (http://www.ugct.ugent.be) provided virtual cross‐sections of the archaeological wood samples at sub‐micron resolution. These were compared with scans of samples of similar modern wood. These scans demonstrate the power of sub‐micron X‐ray tomography for wood identification, although the process of mineralization pushes this technique to its limits. Furthermore, this technique facilitated appraisal of the mineral content of the archaeological wood, which is useful in selecting the most appropriate strategy for the (preventative) conservation of the archaeological object.
Bibliography:ArticleID:ARCM640
istex:56A967FD8CA1230CE482320A18DFBDB84D7BD1BB
ark:/67375/WNG-QSGBJ2SP-B
ISSN:0003-813X
1475-4754
DOI:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2011.00640.x