Schweickardt, J.M.; Bradbury, R.; Villelli, M.B.; Kardjilov, N.; Cantargi, F.; Vega, N.: Diagnosis of the conservation status in archaeological objects from Museo de la Patagonia by using imaging complementary techniques. Journal of Physics: Conference Series 2605 (2023), p. 012020/1-7
10.1088/1742-6596/2605/1/012020
Open Access Version
Abstract:
We present the application of imaging complementary techniques to the interdisciplinary study of a selection of archaeological metal objects belonging to funerary assets from Patagonean Indigenous. This selection belongs to the archaeological collection "Andres Giai" which is under the care of the Museum of Patagonia, Bariloche, Argentina. It was regrettably left with no contextual data and most of the objects were kept in uncontrolled storage conditions over many years. Its general conservation status motivated the design and implementation of an interdisciplinary methodology to address a Conservation Plan considering the application of analytical techniques for materials in its approach. This work intends to achieve the first stage on this Plan, which consists in a suitable diagnosis of the conservation-status to specific and representative pieces of the Andrés Giai metal collection. We highlight the Diagnosis stage as the most important to determine accurate treatments for each object during any conservation plan. The diagnosis was carried out by implementing neutron and X-Ray tomography at the Helmholtz Zenturm Berlin, Germany. The results obtained allowed us to: study the distribution of corrosion products and other degradation products such as crusts; verify the presence of a metal core under these product, study the homogeneity of the thicknesses, and show characteristics of the internal surfaces. This information is vital for the proposal of tailored conservation treatments that allow guaranteeing sustainable interventions.