Mass Spectrometric and Radiometric Analyses in Cultural Heritage Preservation

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “Mass Spectrometric and Radiometric Analyses in Cultural Heritage Preservation”, aims to combine common and less common techniques in archaeometry such as mass spectrometry (stable isotope analysis), accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS technique), gamma spectrometry, liquid scintillation counting spectrometry (LSC technique) and other methods dealing with the nuclear properties of atoms for the benefit of heritage sciences. Along with the traditional isotopes of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and sulphur, we welcome studies that focus on other stable isotopes and radioisotopes. A section of this Special Issue will be devoted to exploring the contributions that have been made by nuclear activities to heritage sciences over the past 75 years. How can we benefit from what is usually a negative side effect of human progress regarding nuclear applications? Even older than the Nuclear Age, the Plastic Age has also made an impact that can already be felt. To what extent will nanoplastics affect the projection of human history into the future? What about the carbon footprint? Moving on from humans and biota, what challenges does our way of life pose to historical monuments and artworks in the world to come? Some widespread improvements in everyday life and in restorations can generate conservation problems over time, for example, in the case of Radon-222. The use of new construction materials, and also insulating windows, will generate a higher level of radioactivity in old buildings where the ambient dose is often lower indoors than outdoors. This is not only a source of health problems but also of, in some cases, the advanced deterioration of cultural heritage objects, which is compounded by carbon dioxide from breathing; there are already many known examples of this. Establishing an optimal environment for the preservation of cultural heritage can also mean reducing the direct impact that radioactivity has on artifacts. To what extent can this decision affect the perception of the past or of art? This volume is an invitation to answer these questions, along with many others.

Dr. Corina Anca Simion
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cultural heritage preservation
• archaeosciences
• mass spectrometry
• radiometric methods
• stable isotopes analysis
• carbon-14
• lead-210
• radon-222
• carbon footprint
• nanoplastics