The Ancient Charm Project: new neutron based imaging methods for cultural heritage studies

Ralf Schulze, László Szentmiklósi, Zoltán Kis

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 2010, 21, 281-299

Abstract

It has been shown in the frame of the Ancient Charm project that neutron based methods have a great potential for the investigation of cultural heritage objects. Several measurements on replicas and real objects have been performed, some still being under analysis. The main disadvantage of the 3D methods compared to their bulk counterparts is their reduced statistics, which limits sensitivity and increases the measurement time that is needed to get meaningful results. If one limits oneself to 2D space this drawback is reduced. As was shown for the 2D-PGAI the combination with a beforehand performed neutron tomography, together with some reasonable assumptions about the sample, can be used to deduce the 3D elemental distribution for not too complex objects. For relatively flat objects, like the belt mount that was shown here, the additional information obtained from a real 3D measurement may be negligible compared to the information gained from increased statistical significance. For the future the results of a full 3D scan of the real fibula and the 3D reconstruction from a NRT tomography can be expected.

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