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High-Resolution Computed Tomography and Digital Radiography of Archaeological and Art-Historical Objects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Fredrick H. SÉGuin
Fredrick H. SÉGuin*
Affiliation:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Building NW-16 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
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Abstract

Recent advances in x-ray imaging and image processing are providing new options for the nondestructive physical evaluation of archaeological artifacts and works of art. Traditional film-based methods have played an important role in this field for many decades1, but digital modes developed for medical and industrial applications have been gaining ground2 and can be expected to become more important as they become more accessible and less expensive. Modes such as digital radiography (DR) and computed tomography (CT) have many advantages in terms of information content, quantitative analysis options, and image display options (including some that make image publication easier). CT, in particular, provides structural information which cannot be obtained through any other nondestructive means. From a technical point of view, the only real drawback to digital methods has been spatial resolution that hasn't compared favorably with the best available from film. That situation is changing3.

The objective here is to discuss a few of the important characteristics peculiar to digital images, to show examples of how high-resolution digital images can provide important structural information, and to illustrate useful types of image processing. The use of experimental CT and DR systems, with spatial resolution as fine as 50 microns, is illustrated in studies of three objects: an ancient terracotta sculpture, a Japanese assembledwoodblock sculpture (ca. 17th century), and an oil painting on canvas (ca. 18th century).

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 185: Symposium G – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology II , 1990 , 65
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

1. Meyers, P., “The Structure of Works of Art and Historic Artifacts”, in Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology, edited by Sayre, E. V., Vandiver, P. B., Druzik, J. and Stevenson, C. (Materials Research Society, Pittsburgh, 1988), p. 5.Google Scholar
2. Vandiver, P., Ellingson, W. A., Robinson, T. K., Lobick, J. J., and Seguin, F. H., “Radiographic Techniques for Archaeological Ceramics”, Archeomaterials, in press (1990).Google Scholar
3. Seguin, F. H. and Bjorkholm, P. J., “Optimization of Parameters for High-Resolution Computed Tomography”, in Review of Proeress in Ouantitative Nondestructive Evaluation. Vol. 8A, edited by Thompson, D.O. and Chimenti, D.E. (Plenum Press, New York, 1989), p. 373.Google Scholar
4. Bjorkholm, P. J., Annis, M., and Seguin, F. H., “Flying-Spot Digital Radiography”, in Rent Developments in Digital Imagina, edited by Doi, K., Lanzl, L., and Lin, P.-J. P. (American Institute of Physics, New York, 1985), p. 198.Google Scholar
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6. Schneider, R. J., Burstein, P., Seguin, F. H., and Krieger, A. S., “High-Spatial-Resolution Computed Tomography for Thin Annular Geometries”, in Review of Progress in Ouantitative Nondestructive Evaluation. Vol. 5A, edited by Thompson, D. O. and Chimenti, D. E. (Plenum Press, New York, 1986), p. 835.Google Scholar