Abstract

The study and conservation of works of art and antiquities are essential for knowing, understanding and preserving our cultural heritage. Analytical spectroscopy has been proven capable to illuminate the complex diagnostic problems encountered in the course of studies of heritage objects and monuments. This presentation will discuss recent applications of NMR spectroscopy and Laser Spectroscopy in the fields of cultural heritage materials and archaeological residue analysis, as applied for the characterization and chemical composition analysis of organic and inorganic materials that are constituents of diverse cultural heritage specimens of interest. Examples presented will include the study of monuments, museum objects and artworks, contemporary works of art, wall paintings, varnishes, metal artefacts, and organic residues from archaeological pottery.

About the Speakers

Dr. Apostolos Spyros is an Associate Professor at the Chemistry Department, Univ. of Crete, where he teaches analytical chemistry, food analysis and NMR spectroscopy. He is the Head of the NMR Laboratory at the Chemistry Department, a partner of the FoodomicsGR national research infrastructure and director of the NMR Facility of the University of Crete.

His research interests involve applying liquid and solid state NMR spectroscopy for the analysis of organic materials, biomolecules, foods, polymers and cultural heritage materials. He has published 57 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals (including 4 invited reviews), and 5 book chapters. He is co-author of the monograph “NMR spectroscopy in food analysis”, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2013. He serves also as a reviewer for many leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, including Analytical Chemistry, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and Biomacromolecules. His work has received more than 1200 citations, and he has an h-index of 21 (ISI-WoS).

His research has been supported by EU and national funding (> 400,000 €, including Heraclitos II, Thales, Synergasia II). On top of other research, the NMR Lab has developed novel analytical methodologies for the characterization of a wide variety of original works of art (paintings, wall paintings, contemporary art installations, archaeological residues, whole artefacts) and organic materials that are relevant to cultural heritage and archaeology (drying oils, natural resins, varnishes, waxes, polymeric consolidants, natural and synthetic dyes, pigments, etc). Prof. Spyros’ research group currently includes 2 Ph.D., 3 M.Sc. students and one research technician. He has been the supervisor of three Ph.D., six M.Sc. and 18 diploma theses awarded by the Chemistry Department, UoC.

Demetrios Anglos is Professor at the Department of Chemistry, University of Crete and Associated Researcher at IESL-FORTH, where he leads the Applied Spectroscopy Laboratory (since 2001). He holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry (1986) from the University of Athens, Greece and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (1994) from Cornell University, USA.

On top of other research, the Applied Spectroscopy Lab at FORTH has developed, two analytical instruments, LMNT-I and LMNT-II, based on the LIBS technique, specially designed for studying archaeological objects and works of art on site and adapted a mobile micro-Raman system likewise for supporting analytical campaigns in museums and archaeological sites.

The output of his research is published in around 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented in several talks at major international conferences. He has been involved in a number of EU and nationally funded research projects (in 6 as the PI). He has also co-ordinated a multi-site Marie-Curie Early Stage Training project (Advanced Training in Laser Sciences; 2004-2008) and an Intra-European Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant at IESL-FORTH. During the period 2001-2016 he served as the Technical Manager of the Ultraviolet Laser Facility operating at IESL-FORTH, which is currently a member of LASERLAB-EUROPE a network linking 26 major European laser infrastructures. He has over the past few years concentrated his attention on European and National Initiatives which aim at developing Research Infrastructures relevant to Cultural Heritage Science, E-RIHS (European Research Infrastructures for Heritage Science) and E-RIHS.gr

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