Analysis of microbial colonization

CONTENT OF THE BOOK The book takes into consideration archaeological artefacts made out of the most common materials, like stones (both natural and artificial), mosaics, ceramics, glass, metals, wood and textiles. But all these important materials are accompanied by less diffuse artefacts and materials, like clay tablets, goldsmith artefacts, icons, leather and skin objects, bones and ivory, coral and mother of pearl. Each type of artefact and/or material is treated from at least four different points of view: - Composition and processing technology - Alteration and degradation causes and mechanisms - Procedures for conservative intervention - Case study and/or examples of conservative intervention In this way, the importance of science and diagnostics in the field of conservation emerges, together with the fact that it is not possible to avoid scientific analyses of the archaeological finds if one wants to achieve the best results from the conservation point of view. In addition, it becomes clear that the choice of the conservation systems is strictly connected to the results of the analyses. Of course, the high number of materials and the great difference between their conservation problems would require a great number of pages, if they were treated in a deep way. Such a solution is not practical and not economic, therefore the solution was to treat all the subjects in a not deep, but complete and precise way. As a consequence, the book is subdivided into chapters devoted to different materials, together with two transversal chapters: one devoted to the general principles of the preventive conservation and the other one to the description of the most useful analytical techniques. In such an approach, special reference has been made to the needs of the museums and to the use of non-invasive analytical techniques.