The conference inArt 2020 aims to gather professionals from all the disciplines concerned by the study and the preservation of cultural heritage materials: chemists, physicists, geologists, biologists, conservation scientists, conservators, historians, archaeologists, etc. Ancient materials require interdisciplinary approaches and the development of specific analytical methodologies due to their complexity and heterogeneity, the need for non-invasive analyses and limited sampling, or to simulate alteration processes. The conference wish to stimulate discussions between the participants around three main topics related to the scientific analysis of ancient artefacts: knowledge of the manufacturing techniques and materials; understanding of their degradation processes and the use of innovative conservation strategies; and the development of new methodologies and data treatments for their study.
The topics to be addressed within the conference sessions can be related to the following 3 main thematic sessions with various sub-themes (amongst others):
Comprehension of materials and techniques involved in Cultural Heritage
- Identification approaches
- Circulation of materials and manufacturing techniques
- Dating and chronological approaches
Degradation mechanisms and conservation strategies
- Characterisation of degradation products
- Impact of the environment on the degradation or protection of the objects
- Experimental aging simulation and modelling
- Diagnosis of conservation states, documentation of objects (including numerical approaches)
- Cleaning, stabilisation and protection
Technological developments and data analysis
- In situ experiments and mobile instrumentation
- Imaging techniques
- Coupling of analytical methods and data fusion