Spectrochimica Acta Part B 61 (2006) 995 996

www.elsevier.com/locate/sab

Book review

Report on Non-destructive microanalysis of

cultural heritage materials
This highly informative book is part of the well known series
of Comprehensive Analytical Chemistry which has assembled
an outstanding collection of reference works numbering forty
one volumes so far. The current volume is dedicated to the
cultural heritage field and brings together most of the methods of
analysis routinely used in this field. The original part of this
exhaustive presentation is however not the detailed description
of the methods themselves, collected under the heading
Analytical reference section as the Reader has already encountered them has he been a faithful scholar of the series. It is
rather the cocktail part of this volume which is outstanding
thanks to the efforts of the Belgian editors, well versed in this
field. Their choice of ingredients and especially, their art of
blending, makes for a unique and tasteful assemblage. The
second part, entitled Case Studies section thus contains pertinent examples of methods or rather combined methods applied
to the Art and Archaeometry field, exposed down to their last
details to our curiosity. This comprehensive section is the most
interesting collection of such works in the past decade, enhanced
by the addition of modern supplements imposed by the
development of said analytical techniques.
The only slight shortcoming I found, which is surely a
professional bias for an Atomic physicist such as I, is that authors
tend to overestimate firstly the non-destructiveness of the
methods they employ and/or develop and secondly, they have
developed a slightly proprietary confidence in the reliability and
accuracy of these methods. As a developer of methods and/or
instruments of microanalysis, one is frequently confronted to the
inherent limitations of the specific measurements one handles
which enforce certain methodological choices. No panacea
exists for a complete class of problems, and even less for such a
demanding one the cultural heritage field imposes.
I therefore would like to propose, akin to Hippocrates, an
oath applied to analyses for the cultural heritage world:
Primum, non tangere ! meaning, firstly, not to touch or
damage the samples, which is the main requirement of this field
dealing with unique and incomparable objects, so dear and so
essential to our common knowledge. Next, one should extract
the maximum amount of sensitive and accurate data, guaranteeing the possibility of later access to different instrumental
techniques. Finally, even in the case of clear-cut answers, the
revisiting of certain samples or studies in the light of modern
instrumental techniques should always be considered.
doi:10.1016/j.sab.2006.08.002

Exempli gratia, a few of the current chapters of Section I stand

out and may easily serve as reference for Readers who teach in
this field.
The chapter on Electron microscopy by Adriaens and
Dowsett is quite exhaustive and includes recent references to
techniques such as Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) or
Low Voltage SEM (LVSEM). Physical principle, instrumentation as well as sample preparation techniques are treated in detail
by the authors to guide the Reader in the event of having to deal
with analytical techniques involving electron microscopy.
Examples dealing with glasses, ceramics and metals complete
this didactic presentation.
A very robust and modern survey of the field of X-Ray
methods is given in the chapter by Janssens. He presents X-ray
fluorescence (XRF), diffraction (XRD) and absorption (XAS)
together with associated instrumentation for producing and detecting X-rays. His survey includes synchrotron radiation instrumentation and methodology but also portable instruments thus
spanning the field of applications from the Large Instruments or
National Facilities, down to miniaturized, straightforward field
probes. Examples are given for all of these methods applied to
pigments, glazes, alloys, graphic documents, odontolites, cosmetics or mummy hair.
The secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) chapter is
introduced by DarqueCeretti and Aucouturier who give a quite
complete overview of the method. Applications to dating or
provenance (not isotope dependent) of metal artifacts or
emeralds, but also of glass degradation or bronze patina are
well described. ToFSIMS methods are used to study surface
related phenomena such as oil-induced degradation of smalt in
paintings or of wool fiber bleaching but also of corrosion
inhibitors serving in alloy conservation.
With slight exceptions, the detailed examples presented in
Section II propose a very efficient tutorial in how a specific
study deals with specific samples which in turn impose the
optimal methods of analysis.
Demortier for instance, assembled a large body of data on
precious metal artifacts used in jewellery, using mainly PIXE
(Particle-Induced X-Ray Emission) and PIGE (Particle-Induced
Gamma-Ray Emission) techniques. Gold artifacts from Roman
or Byzantine periods were analyzed by PIXE at the surface in
comparison with neutron activation bulk techniques. Specific
morphology in jewellery items such as the soldering of gold was
consistently investigated. CuAgAu ternary compositional
diagrams manage to accurately cover the diversity of these

996

Book review

items and cluster analysis on such diagrams is straightforward

for describing provenance or specific metallurgical treatments.
European but also American items are compared in great detail
in the chapter, and Proton Activation Analysis (PAA) is used in
parallel to LA-ICPMS for completing these studies.
Gratuze and Janssens produced an exhaustive body of work
on glass artifacts, studying their provenance by means of LAICPMS (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass
Spectrometry) and FNAA (Fast Neutron Activation Analysis)
techniques. Obsidian, then bronze and iron age glasses,
Carolingian followed by middle age glasses and more up to
probably the onset of modern glass production at the end of the
18th and beginning of the 19th century are covered in this study.
A great variety of analyses were presented here, in a remarkably
sound statistical way to cover over five thousand years of glass
history. Major to minor elements analyses serve to constrain the
sources of glass throughout history as well as their trade routes
and distribution hubs.
Finally, the Reader of this volume will be directly rewarded
by the variety of methods covered and the relevancy of the

examples treated. He will necessarily be a student of the cultural

heritage field or even a professor looking for an up-to-date
reference but also a professional involved in conservation or
remediation techniques and, why not, one of the numerous selfeducated people who seek to improve their knowledge and
understanding of the methods of analysis in this or related fields.
Reader, prepare for a vast and diverse journey of eight hundred pages in the realm of Art processed by Scientific methods !
The book is available in Europe, Middle-East and Africa
through Elsevier, Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP,
UK and in the USA/Canada from Elsevier, 11830 Westline
Industrial Drive, St. Louis, MO 63146, U.S.A.
A. Simionovici
Laboratoire des Sciences de la Terre, Ecole Normale
Suprieure de Lyon, 46, allee d'Italie, 69007 Lyon, France
E-mail address: asimiono@ens-lyon.fr.
3 August 2006