Preserving Cultural Heritage: From Minero-petrographic and Chemical-physical Characterization to Cultural Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

Tangible Cultural Heritage (CH) consists of movable, immovable, and underwater (natural and manmade) resources and assets inherited from the past. It is an invaluable historic, artistic, social, and economic patrimony that we are called to pass on to future generations. Access, preservation, and education on CH are essential for humankind’s progression, representing, on the one hand, an essential source of inspiration, and on the other hand, a powerful call to a general sense of belonging to an "universal community". Nowadays, there is a basic need for further research aimed to better understand the relationship between heritage conservation and the various issues and scientific disciplines it involves, with particular attention paid to the effect on CH produced by natural hazards and climate change. The more and more dynamic, unstable, and aggressive environments in which CH materials are located (e.g., air pollution and atmospheric processes, changing temperature and thermal shock, and biological and/or anthropic activities) strongly contributed to their physical decay and chemical weathering (always in function of their mineralogical, chemical, and physical features).

In the last years, a wide range of new technologies in protecting, preserving and restoring CH are developing. Moreover, advanced digital methods provide easier access to CH, facilitating its documentation and recording in view of valorization and preventive conservation. Nevertheless, ancient and modern buildings, artifacts, and findings are mainly made of natural and artificial materials obtained from geological resources; therefore, a proper mineralogical-petrographic and chemical-physical characterization of these CH materials again plays a pivoting role for (i) exploring several aspects of the archaeological, architectural, and fine arts contexts; (ii) understanding the interaction of artefacts with the environment; and (iii) evaluating possible damage and consequent strategies for conservation within cultural sustainability.

Thus, the Special Issue of Sustainability, entitled “Preserving Cultural Heritage: From Minero-Petrographic and Chemical-Physical Characterization to Cultural Sustainability”, intends to facilitate the fundamental and strategic dialogue between natural and human sciences in this multidisciplinary research field. It is open to all contributions dealing with a wide framework of classical archaeometric studies as well as research concerning the CH conservation. The volume will also gather a selection of original interdisciplinary researches present at the XI Congress of Italian Association of Archaeometry (AIAr), which will be held in Naples (Italy) in March 2020.

Papers matching the following topics will be considered for publication:

• Characterization, diagnosis, dating, provenance, and technology of architectural, archaeological, and artistic materials;
• Evaluation of the conservation state of the CH materials in the environmental system and understanding of the processes and agents acting on;
• Use of new products and methods in the sustainable conservation, cleaning, and restoration of CH;
• Study of the stability of treatments used for the conservation of cultural heritage;
• Documentation of CH with advanced digital methods for the strategic valorization of cultural resources and sustainable development;
• Innovative, noninvasive, and nondestructive methods for the scientific investigation of CH.

Researchers of the archaeometry and cultural heritage community, such as scientists from Earth Sciences and from other disciplines—chemists, physicists, engineers, material scientists, archaeologists, conservators and restorers—are invited to present their contributions.

Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Antonelli
Dr. Chiara Germinario
Guest Editors

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• Cultural Heritage geomaterials
• Archaeometry
• Provenance and technology
• Conservation and restoration
• Cultural sustainability
• Applied mineralogy and petrography
• Chemistry and Physic for Cultural Heritage