Cultural heritage study: Microdestructive techniques for detection of clay minerals on the surface of historic buildings

Abstract

Clay minerals often occur in the finishing layers covering the surface of historic and architectural artefacts. They may come from ochres intentionally applied or from atmospheric dust naturally deposited. In the first case the finishes could testify to treatments applied for the stone conservation and/or aesthetic purposes, whose study is of great interest in conservation activities.In this paper we report on the application of microdestructive analytical techniques in order to identify the presence and the origin of clay minerals found on the surfaces of several historic buildings located in the Apulia region (Southern Italy). Optical and SEM observations, along with EDS microanalyses, and FTIR analyses were performed. The microdestructive character of these techniques made it possible to carry out theanalyses on the same specimen, thus reducing the sampling. XRD analyses were also performed to confirm the presence of clay minerals. The complementary analytical findings were helpful in most cases in establishing the real origin of the clay minerals; the detection of organic materials arising from man-made treatments allowed to identify clays as pigments. However, in some cases the uncertainty remained between ochre,intentionally employed, and soil-dust deposition.


Tutti gli autori

  • A. CALIA; M. LETTIERI; G. QUARTA

Titolo volume/Rivista

Applied clay science


Anno di pubblicazione

2010

ISSN

0169-1317

ISBN

Non Disponibile


Numero di citazioni Wos

Nessuna citazione

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Settori ERC

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Codici ASJC

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