Characterization of Maya Blue Pigment in Pre-Classic and Classic Monumental Architecture of the Ancient Pre-Culombian City of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico)

This paper presents the first evidence of the use of Maya Blue pigment in late pre-classic (c.300BC-300AD) architecture in the Maya Lowlands. This was detected combining an innovative technique, the voltammetry of microparticles (VMP), with atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM/EDX), visible spectrophotometry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The pigment was found on the polychrome facade of substructure IIC of pre-Columbian city of Calakmul (Campeche, Mexico). The identification of Maya Blue in this building may prove to be the earliest known use of this colour on the …

El plomo escrito del Tos Pelat (Moncada, Valencia)

The aim of this paper is to edit a new Iberian lead inscription found in Tos Pelat (Moncada, valencia). In spite of this fragmentary condition, its text is possibly signary with a sacred or votive function.

Estudio del biodeterioro en resinas alquídicas usadas como aglutinante en pinturas modernas mediante espectroscopía FTIR y pirólisis-cromatografía de gases-espectrometría de masas (Py-GC-MS).

Evaluation of the alteration produced by microbiological attack on alkyd resins has been carried out by FTIR spectroscopy and Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The latter included the online derivatisation of alkyd resins using hexamethyldisilazane during pyrolysis. Specimens consisting of thin films of resins formed on glass slides were used. Analyses performed on the specimens in which different genera of bacteria and fungi were inoculated and allowed to grow, indicate that the attack of microorganisms encourages the scissioning of the polymeric resins and the appearance of short-chain fatty acids. IR bands ascribed to carboxylic acids appearing in samples from in…

Aportación de nuevas metodologías multitécnica en el estudio y conservación de patrimonio numismático de procedencia subacuática

Este trabajo presenta un estudio del estado de conservación de monedas con base de cobre procedente del Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática. La metodología multitécnica incluye instrumentación convencional como microscopía óptica, espectroscopia FTIR y técnicas avanzadas nanoinvasivas como voltamperometría de micropartículas y haz de iones focalizados-FESEM-EDX. Así se ha podido identificar el tipo de aleación, productos de corrosión, depósitos superficiales y antiguas intervenciones. Cabe señalar la identificación de mecanismos de alteración atípicos como la formación de complejos carboxilados de iones metálicos generados en los procesos electroquímicos de corrosión del metal o aleac…

A Raman spectroscopic and combined analytical approach to the restoration of severely damaged frescoes: the Palomino project

The deterioration of art objects is normally relatively minor, controllable and attributable to environmental changes or bacterial invasion, and until now there has not been any recorded attempt to analyse an artwork that has been deliberately and significantly destroyed. The analytical problems are correspondingly larger but the potential reward from any information that can be forthcoming is thereby proportionately greater. The 17th Century Palomino frescoes on the vaulted ceiling of the Church of Sant Joan del Mercat in Valencia were largely destroyed by insurgents in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The ensuing gunfire and a series of seven conflagrations inside the church had a devastati…

Caracterización y estudio electroquímico en disolución acuosa de los cis-trioxo-complejos de Molibdeno con ligandos aminocarboxílicos : relevancia de sus derivados sulfosustituidos como compuestos modelo del Cofactor Molibdeno