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Spectral Signatures of the Past: Advancing Spectroscopy in Heritage Science
Francesca Rosi
Italian National Reserach Council-CNR, Italy
Heritage Science is the interdisciplinary field that combines the humanities, sciences, and technological innovation to study, preserve, and promote cultural heritage. Within this context, spectroscopy serves as a powerful analytical tool for investigating the material of heritage objects. By providing detailed molecular and elemental information, spectroscopy enables researchers to identify original materials, restoration, and degradation products, and monitor conservation treatments. This contributes to the conservation and restoration of artifacts, but also to a deeper understanding of our tangible Cultural Heritage.
Spectroscopy stands as a cornerstone analytical technique within the first European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science (E-RIHS ERIC). MOLAB and FIXLAB platforms of ERIHS give access to state of the art analytical spectroscopic methods (either noninvasive, portable and benchtop ones) to study from the nano to the macro scale Cultural Heritage material composition and behaviour.
MOLAB, the access platform of portable analytical tools allowing for noninvasive in situ studies, started more than 20 years ago, driven by the need of fully respecting the uniqueness and preciousness of Cultural Heritage items, while understanding their materiality and state of conservation. Over these two decades, MOLAB has continuously evolved, motivated by the need to address the complex and multidisciplinary challenges posed by Heritage Science, offering state of the art, advanced techniques and methods.
Recent technological advancements, marking the transition from single-point measurements to hyperspectral imaging, and from purely spectral to spectrally and spatially resolved chemical imaging, will be presented. Multimodal and multiscale approaches, combining well-established techniques with methods relatively new in the field of Heritage Science, will be also discussed. These developments underscore the pivotal role of spectroscopy in this interdisciplinary domain, highlighting its capacity to reveal complex material information while supporting noninvasive investigation and conservation efforts.
