Heritage, Volume 5, Issue 4 (December 2022) – 76 articles

The public expected color from the early photographic images, yet, daguerreotypes—the first commercially available photographic process—failed to register the natural colors. Daguerreotypists developed several coloring methods to solve this inconvenience after 1840. Scientific analyses of the hand-colored daguerreotypes are limited, and the primary information sources available are manuals and patents. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of hand-coloring techniques, which impacts conservation practices, mainly the cleaning procedures and complements technical art history investigations. We studied nine colored daguerreotypes with a non-invasive methodology based on three spectroscopic techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), micro-Raman spectroscopy (μ-Raman), and micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy in reflection mode (μ-rFTIR). The results revealed the different colorants and some of their mixtures employed by the colorist. It also adds information regarding the photographic production of three studios: Désiré François Millet, active in Paris between 1840 and 1868; Antoine Claudet (1797–1867), active in London; and the James E. McClees and Washington Lafayette Germon studio, operative between 1846 and 1855 in Philadelphia, USA. These technical details constitute a helpful comparison to future studies on Daguerreian studios and colored daguerreotypes. Full article

Repeat photography, the process of locating the camera position of an old photo and taking a new photo from this position, is utilized to protect our natural heritage, by measuring landscape changes between old and new image, and to conserve and recover our architectural and archaeological heritage, by observing changes between images taken before, during, and after conservation efforts or destructive events. Most importantly, repeat photography—in short, rephotography—is connecting us to our heritage on all levels from personal to global: while rephotographing, we connect with the old image and its creator and—when viewing and comparing the old image and the rephotograph—we connect with the tangible, intangible, and natural heritage shown in the images by observing changes and continuities. In this paper, we review publications and applications employing rephotography. We discuss the organization, retrieval, and presentation of rephotographic compilations, their generation by different image registration techniques, and their conservation as rephotographic heritage. Further, we describe challenges in rephotography, discuss how they differ from standard challenges in photography, computer vision, and image registration and present both analog and digital solutions and tools used in practice by rephotographers to address said challenges. Full article

Textile conservation has given rise to small and medium-sized museums, usually with scarce resources. In Sicily, the little evidence that remains of silk production and opulent imports by the rich and powerful local aristocracy is kept in museums, parishes, and other cultural institutions. The documentation, dissemination, and enhancement of such a fragile heritage is today possible by means of technological tools that provide novel means to preserve, analyze, and exploit digital information. In this paper, we present some outcomes of the SILKNOW project, a project that applies computing research to the needs of diverse users (museums, educational institutions, the tourism industry, creative industries, media, etc.) and preserves the tangible and intangible heritage associated with silk. We show the methodology followed to build end users’ needs into the Virtual Loom, a tool that deals with the 3D reconstruction of silk fabrics at the yarn level. We also provide a real example of how to integrate it at the museum level, specifically, at Piraino’s Collection. The results demonstrate how small and medium-sized museums can access tools that will help them to carry out their daily tasks. Full article

The abundance of insect and fungal pests under a changing climate may threaten historic interiors, libraries and museums, with warmer, potentially more humid winters. This work examines local and indoor climate, insects and fungi in a historic library near Vienna. It reveals a mostly dry and cool environment for the storage of books, but few visitors to induce changes. Temperature and relative humidity have been monitored for 12 months (2021-07/2022-07), with 14 monitors positioned insect traps (blunder traps and some pheromone traps). Fungi in air, on surfaces and in settled dust were also sampled. Winter temperatures in library cupboards and behind shelves were slightly warmer (~1 °C) and more humid than in the library environment. Over the last decade there have been infestations of the biscuit beetles (Stegobium paniceum) but since treatment with sulfuryl difluoride, Anthrenus sp. have dominated. Silverfish are also present, but only in one corner. Fungal outbreaks have also been found, but over five years fungi in air samples have shifted from Penicillium commune and P. chrysogenum to Aspergillus sp. The stable environment at Klosterneuburg is suitable for books, yet insects and mould present suggests vigilance remains necessary, as some microenvironments (e.g., cupboards) can be at risk and there may be materials with high water content, hygroscopic or of nutritional value. Full article

This paper presents the results of the application of a holistic procedure for a seismic vulnerability analysis of complex masonry aggregates which are ascribable as cultural heritage buildings. The methodological framework allowed us to properly identify the structural units comprising a historical palace through a hierarchical approach combining integrated geometrical and structural surveys with non-destructive (ND) and minor destructive (MD) techniques. The investigations were conducted on a significant palace located in the historical center of Florence, the Palagio di Parte Guelfa. The building covers an entire urban block, as it is constituted by many structural units developed over the centuries since the Roman period. The palace incorporates pre-existing structures, such as the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Porta and medieval terraced houses. Over the decades, different restorations and renovations have been carried out, including by Filippo Brunelleschi in the XV century and by Vasari in the XVI. Nowadays, the building constitutes an urban cluster. Our seismic vulnerability analysis took advantage of a specific knowledge path which was suitable for the identification of the different structural units of the palace. To this end, the historical evolution of the construction was traced through bibliographic research and ND surveys. We finally assessed the seismic performance of the different units according to different approaches, i.e., a rapid assessment based on simplified computations at the global scale, and a kinematic analysis for local phenomena. Full article

Vital scenarios in the old Jewish quarter of Seville (Spain) in the 16th Century are analyzed. The objectives of this paper are first, to gather up a brief history of the property of some houses of Conversos (Jews who converted to Christianity in the face of the Inquisition); secondly, to study their layout and their construction relating them to emotions in architecture in a transversal way; thirdly, to make hypothetical plans and elevations (including some digital reconstructions); and, finally, to report their current state of preservation. For these purposes, documents have been consulted in Sevillian archives. To analyze these buildings, it was essential to consult the little-known texts called apeos, which were official documents drawn up by the master builders (alarifes) that the owners requested in order to know the conservation of the buildings. An innovative methodology of translating written descriptions into graphics has been developed. Likewise, among the characteristic spaces of the Sevillian houses, more singular ones, such as the reception courtyards, the main rooms, and the women’s quarters, have been thoroughly analyzed. The alteration of the entrance of one of the houses due to the historical and emotional context and the importance of the women’s quarters (as a religious and vital refuge) are also highlighted. Full article

During the restoration work promoted by the FAI foundation (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) of the abbey of Santa Maria di Cerrate (Lecce, Apulia, South Italy), multidisciplinary analyses have been realized to support conservators and art historians for the safeguard and valorization of the most important byzantine evidence (12th–13th century) in Apulia. In this paper, mortar samples have been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to characterize the observed materials, directing conservators for the integration interventions with compatible realizations. Moreover, the samples were compared with specimens taken from local quarries and the nearest coastline area, and vegetal fibers, embedded into the mortars were analyzed by applying radiocarbon dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). It was thus possible to give a contribution to the historical-artistic research related to the building techniques, the ratio aggregates/binder and the employed materials of the mortars and the dating of the mural paintings between the end of the 12th century and the first half of the 13th century. Full article

A portable, user-friendly multispectral imaging system assembled almost entirely of common photography equipment and open-source software has been developed. The system serves as an outreach and educational tool for demonstrating and promoting scientific imaging as a more routine practice in the contexts of cultural heritage digitization and photography. These efforts are aimed primarily at institutions where advanced imaging technologies are not already found, and where funding and expertise may limit access to commercial, bespoke multispectral imaging solutions that are currently available. The background and theory that were shared in tutorials given during the system’s initial testing campaign are detailed here. Testing was carried out in one-day on-site visits to six cooperating institutions of different sizes and collection types in the northeast USA. During these visits, the imaging system was presented, and the benefit of collecting spectral data using low barrier-to-entry capture and processing methods relative to conventional imaging methods was discussed. Imaging was conducted on site on selected collections objects to showcase the current capabilities of the system and to inform ongoing improvements to the setup and processing. This paper is a written companion piece to the visits, as a source of further detail and context for the two-light imaging system that was described and demonstrated. Full article

This paper presents the limitations and potential of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy applied to the study of cellulosic textile collections. The technique helps to differentiate natural fibres according to the content of lignin, pectin, hemicellulose, and wax, although some problematic issues should be considered. The spectral differences derived from the environmental humidity uptake and the plant composition are reviewed and discussed in the light of new experimental data. Diagnostic bands are proposed that can discriminate between different fibres from different plants. The contribution of ageing is also considered, demonstrating that sometimes aged fibres cannot be reliably recognised. In contrast, the potential of ATR-FTIR spectroscopy to discriminate between natural and modified fibres is discussed and proven. The best results were obtained when microinvasive ATR-FTIR spectroscopy was coupled with SEM observations. The proposed protocol was tested on microsamples of various cellulosic materials from traditional Japanese samurai armours dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries (Morigi Collection, Museo delle Culture, Lugano, Switzerland). The results facilitated a complete characterisation of the materials and demonstrated that the protocol can be used to study a wide variety of cellulosic materials, including both natural and man-modified fibres, and paper. Full article

The Alcobacenses are one of the most important Portuguese collections of Monastic codices. During a campaign study to further advance our knowledge on this important legacy and its state of conservation, a heavily deteriorated codex (ALC.338) stood out due to the presence of purple stains on the lower margins on virtually all folios. In some of them, the purple stains are accompanied by yellow and brown patches as well. Also noticed was the presence of these purple spots on the white tawed leather covering the codex. The codex was analyzed macro and microscopically, chemically and biologically using state-of-the-art technology such as next-generation sequencing. The biological deterioration associated with the appearance of these purple spots arises from the inside out and reveals significant abundance of the bacterial genus Saccharopolyspora sp., which accounted for 86% of the bacterial genera identified. For the fungal population, the most common genus was Malassezia sp. Visual inspection of the sample confirmed the presence of fungal and bacterial biofilms. Pressing questions, comparison to similar studies and future perspectives are also given. Full article

In this paper, we discuss a new approach to the analysis of multi/hyper-spectral data sets, based on the Interesting Features Finder (IFF) method. The IFF is a simple algorithm recently proposed in the framework of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) spectral analysis for detecting ‘interesting’ spectral features independently of the variance they represent in a set of spectra. To test the usefulness of this method to multispectral analysis, we show in this paper the results of its application on the recovery of a ‘lost’ painting from the Etruscan hypogeal tomb of the Volumni (3rd century BCE—1st century CE) in Perugia, Italy. The results obtained applying the IFF algorithm are compared with the results obtained by applying Blind Source Separation (BSS) techniques and Self-Organized Maps (SOM) to a multispectral set of 17 fluorescence and reflection images. From this comparison emerges the possibility of using the IFF algorithm to obtain rapidly and simultaneously, by varying a single parameter in a range from 0 to 1, several sets of elaborated images all containing the ‘interesting’ features and carrying information comparable to what could have been obtained by BSS and SOM, respectively. Full article

To determine the best investigations for restoration and storage procedures, a visual inspection can provide a preliminary screen for the colour processes used to print the photographs. The high costs of the instruments required to follow the protocols present in the literature make these methodologies challenging to reproduce, especially for institutions with limited resources. Hence, a cheap and advanced investigation protocol is needed. This work proposes a protocol that, besides having this characteristic, observes the degradation of the material as a factor in identifying printing processes. The procedure proposed is composed of four steps: I. print observation: a preliminary examination of the object; II. surface observation: an examination of the surface; III. magnified observation: examination with microscope; and IV. decay and damage: alteration and degradation analysis. A set of photographs from the 1960s to the 2000s were analysed following the proposed protocol. From these prints, it was possible to observe the typical forms of degradation deriving from inappropriate conservation and determine the different materials and formats, proving the protocol’s effectiveness and easy applicability.In addition, the scientific community may access this protocol through the open-access website Colour photographic processes-Preliminary identification by visual exam. Full article

(1) Background: The use of light-emitting diode (LED) lighting is increasingly replacing traditional light sources in museums. There is a need to anticipate the damage caused by LED lighting to photographic prints. The aim of this study is to quantitatively predict fading on three inkjet color patches exposed to different white light LED; (2) Method: The novel approach of this work is to measure the wavelength-dependent photochemical efficiency on color patches using a narrow band LED. First, the color patches are exposed to narrow band LED lamps in a proprietary light chamber. Sensitivity curves are obtained by plotting the density changes caused by narrow band exposure as a function of the exposure. In the second step, action spectra are derived from the slopes of the sensitivity curves. The action spectra correspond to the rates of change of a color patch to exposure with different wavelengths of light. In the third step, the narrow band light emissions are fitted to the emission spectra of the white LED of interest. The fitting factors are used to calculate the weighted sum of the density changes; (3) The method predicts the absolute density change of color patches for several white light LED exposures. Full article

The creation of 2D–3D architectural vector drawings constitutes a manual, labor-intensive process. The scientific community has not provided an automated approach for the production of 2D–3D architectural drawings of cultural-heritage objects yet, regardless of the undoubtable need of many scientific fields. This paper presents an automated method which addresses the problem of detecting 3D edges in point clouds by leveraging a set of RGB images and their 2D edge maps. More concretely, once the 2D edge maps have been produced exploiting manual, semi-automated or automated methods, the RGB images are enriched with an extra channel containing the edge semantic information corresponding to each RGB image. The four-channel images are fed into a Structure from Motion–Multi View Stereo (SfM-MVS) software and a semantically enriched dense point cloud is produced. Then, using the semantically enriched dense point cloud, the points belonging to a 3D edge are isolated from all the others based on their label value. The detected 3D edge points are decomposed into set of points belonging to each edge and fed into the 3D vectorization procedure. Finally, the 3D vectors are saved into a “.dxf” file. The previously described steps constitute the 3DPlan software, which is available on GitHub. The efficiency of the proposed software was evaluated on real-world data of cultural-heritage assets. Full article

The religious art of the Dominican order is reflected in Santo Domingo Church, which was built between 1541 and 1688. This work of heritage architecture, one of the first to be built in the colonized city, was affected by multiple earthquakes, interventions, and constructions that have not been clearly recorded. A total of 13 samples were taken from the mortar inside the cloister, central nave, and side chapel, following the minor destruction-testing protocols and standards suggested by the research team. The analysis included mineral characterization studies and quantitative analysis by X-ray diffraction, petrographic, and scanning electron microscopy with microanalysis of the samples. The results showed the presence of volcanic aggregates and lime mortars, mortars of rustic composition and coarse manufacture. The results of mineralogical data and texture have allowed us to corroborate the historical information described by the chroniclers, to date relatively studied sites and to establish a hypothesis of constructive stages. Full article

The craft of painting icons on glass developed in the 17th century in Transylvania (Romania) following the spread of the news about the wooden icon of the weeping Mother of God in the church of Nicula. This news turned Nicula into a pilgrimage centre, and requests for reproductions of the icon led to the locals becoming glass painters. Because of the surplus of icons, some of the Nicula painters set up new icon-painting centres along the road to Brașov (to the south) and the other main trade routes of Transylvania. In order to highlight the potential for sustainable development associated with this craft and to stimulate the painting of icons in the traditional way, we conducted documentary research on the subject of icons on glass. This research revealed the local peculiarities of the icon painters’ workshops and their importance to the identity of the Romanian peasants in Transylvania. We also conducted a participatory observation carried out in Brasov, which revealed that the iconography courses in popular schools of arts and crafts were both a viable way of managing the relationship with the iconographic tradition and a means to capitalize on religious painting on glass as a cultural heritage resource. The research highlighted the way in which, to preserve the traditional dimension of the craft, it is useful to encourage students to use anonymous glass icons as models and to have limited involvement in model restoration. Full article

Raffaello is renowned as one of the Old Renaissance Masters and his paintings and painting technique are famous for the details and naturality of the characters. Raffaello is famous in particular for the then-new technique of oil painting, which he mastered and perfected. On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the death of Raffaello (2020), there was a large exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, where many paintings and drawings by the Old Master were on show. One of these paintings was the portrait of Leo X with two cardinals belonging to the collection of the Uffizi galleries in Florence. Before going to Rome, the painting underwent conservation treatments at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, where a comprehensive diagnostic campaign was carried out with the aim of understanding the painting materials and technique of the Old Master. In this paper, the results of macro X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) analysis, carried out exploiting the instrument developed by INFN-CHNet, are shown. Among the results, “bismuth black” and the likely use of glass powders in lakes are discussed. Full article

In recent years, the investigation and 3D documentation of architectural heritage has made an efficient digitalization process possible and allowed for artificial intelligence post-processing on point clouds. This article investigates the multilevel multiresolution methodology using machine learning classification algorithms on three point-cloud projects in China: Nanchan Ssu, Fokuang Ssu, and Kaiyuan Ssu. The performances obtained by extending the prediction to datasets other than those used to train the machine learning algorithm are compared against those obtained with a standard approach. Furthermore, the classification results obtained with an MLMR approach are compared against a standard single-pass classification. This work proves the reliability of the MLMR classification of heritage point clouds and its good generalizability across scenarios with similar geometrical characteristics. The pros and cons of the different approaches are highlighted. Full article

Chromogenic reversal films (or color slides) are first-generation positive transparencies. These were used for various purposes, namely as an artistic medium, especially from the 1960s onwards. However, these materials are intrinsically vulnerable to chemical degradation and have poor long-term stability. Although over time significant improvements have been achieved in the stability of chromogenic products, chromogenic dyes are highly susceptible to oxidation and hydrolysis, both induced by light and/or relative humidity and temperature, leading to the fading and shift in the original color balance of the images. During the present investigation, a gap of knowledge regarding chromogenic materials in general, and chromogenic reversal films specifically, was detected. Today, there is still no methodology to identify the dyes present in a specific work and, therefore, to study their chemical mechanism of degradation. From this premise and focused on case studies from the Portuguese artist Ângelo de Sousa (1938–2011), a research study was carried out seeking the characterization of chromogenic dyes. Based on the isolation of the different dyes composing a chromogenic material, several procedures were tested to describe the dyes found in chromogenic reversal films, such as Raman spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography (TLC), infrared spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) and coupled with mass spectrometry (HPLC-HRMS). Promising results were achieved with this approach, opening new paths for the understanding of these materials. Full article

A novel method of extracting color information on a pixel-by-pixel basis or by the average of the regions of interest (ROIs) from digital images is proposed and demonstrated using newly developed and customized image-processing/analysis software (PicMan). For quantitative and statistical analyses of color, the newly developed software can be used for digital archive or digital forensic applications in various fields. The color differences between unrelated, similar, or identical scenes and or objects were quantified in various formats of desired color spaces such as RGB, HSV, XYZ, CIE L*a*b*, Munsell color, and hexadecimal color values. The color differences were visualized as images of pixel-by-pixel mapping of the ΔL*, Δa*, Δb*, ΔE_RGB, ΔE_HSV, and ΔE*_L*a*b* values and block comparison images of desired block sizes. Various color analyses and color-difference mapping examples using an aged and damaged oil painting before and after restoration were introduced. The effects of the image file format differences between PNG and JPG on color distortion are demonstrated by statistics and pixel-by-pixel color-difference mapping. A portrait of Chuk-ki Yoo (兪拓基, 1691–1767) on silk from the 18th century from Korea was used for further color analysis for whole and selected areas. A collector’s ownership stamp of Chuk-ki Yoo stamped in red ink on the text areas in one of his book collections was extracted using the image-processing software and superimposed on the original image as a visualization enhancement example. Image analysis, processing, modification, enhancement, and highlighting, as well as statistical color analysis of digital images in most formats, can conveniently and efficiently be performed using one piece of dedicated software (PicMan). The pixel-by-pixel color information extraction and color comparison technique can be very effective for a variety of applications in art and cultural heritage objects. Full article

The cloister from the old monastery of San Francisco (Cazalla de la Sierra, Seville) has been suffering a series of remodeling transformations from its original construction in the 16th century to the current day. Thus, a study of building archaeology needed to be accomplished by using photogrammetric techniques by SfM (Structure from Motion) and laser scanning or TLS (Terrestrial Laser Scanning), which ensure the geometric exactitude and high resolution of the facings surveying. For that, over 500 images were taken for the 4 existing facings (about 78 lineal meters) from which a photogrammetric model was obtained of over 50 million polygons, as well as a cloud of over 40 million points from the laser scanning. It can be concluded that by using the techniques of SfM, the task of documenting, analyzing and studying the facings of the historical building in order to establish its evolutional process gains not only precision and exactitude but also opens the possibility to go further by obtaining products that are capable of helping us conserve, restore and protect the historical heritage, as well as generate the 3D virtualizations planned for the diffusion. Full article

Today, the industrial landscape constitutes an extraordinarily complex phenomenon, the study of which has been approached belatedly by the scientific community in general. This has given rise to a situation of conceptual and methodological insufficiency in the field of landscape study, making necessary both a reconsideration of the ways these studies have been approached to date and the development of a methodological framework that takes into account the specific nature of these landscapes. With this in mind, the objective of this article is to present a specific methodology for the identification and characterisation of industrial landscapes based on both their heritage and cultural considerations. The methodology contemplates an initial in-depth study of both the landscapes in question and the most relevant methodological trends applied to landscape study, in an effort to ascertain to what extent these methodological approaches respond to the needs of the study. On the basis of the results obtained, this article attempts to make an advance in the contribution of methodological improvements and innovations that materialise in the design of an industrial landscape identification and characterisation methodology, that contemplates a holistic, integrational approach that operates across the various dimensions attributable to these landscapes and advocates a transdisciplinary approach to the study of the same. Full article

During the Viking era and the Middle Ages, in the Baltic Sea area, the remains of alien animal species are found rarely but recurrently. These species, which were previously widely distributed in other regions, were originally considered “exotic” by the local people of the Baltic Sea region. Conversely, “exotic” was also used to describe the last local specimens of those indigenous species that had become very rare over time. Other categories of exotic animals can be defined: the first specimens of domesticated animals seen in an area, and mythical species whose existence was generally, but erroneously, assumed. In the present paper, the evidence of selected exotic species in the Baltic Sea area is analyzed with regard to both their cultural–historical and ecological significance. Many exotic specimens were used for social and hierarchical display, illustrating the individual’s sophistication and broad knowledge of the world, their wealth, and their supra-regional influence. As a result, before Christianization, these species became part of burial rites. At the same time, some of these species became or were already integral parts of the fauna of the Baltic Sea region. Some newly immigrated species were welcomed by the people, while others were considered pests. “New”, initially exotic, species formed the basis for the purely anthropogenic urban ecosystems that emerged during this period. Meanwhile, other, formerly common, species had become “exotic” because of their increasing rarity; when they became extinct, they left significant gaps in the biocoenoses wherein they were interconnected. These ecological effects, as well as some of the socio-cultural characteristics of exotic species, find parallels in modern times. Full article

Buddhist heritage in India is receiving reasonable attention for tourism development with a particular emphasis on promoting Buddhist circuits. One Buddhist pilgrimage circuit covering eight locations including four most sacred places, namely, Bodhgaya, Sarnath, Kushinagar, and Lumbini, is popular for spiritual and religious reasons. Fieldwork conducted in these four sites reveals complex patterns of visitation that question the idea of a circuit as a tourism product. The primary circuit-goers are foreign Buddhist followers, but the magnitude of their visitation is very low. They constitute less than 10 percent of visitors and are far outnumbered by domestic visitors. Domestic visitors driven by recreational purposes hardly complete the entire circuit; their visits are directed to two popular sites while other sites are used as “middle-of-the-trip centers” or places for daytrips. The interviews with various stakeholders including religious institutions, private tour operators, and relevant government agencies, show that the itineraries of circuit-goers depend on several factors including the convenience of travel, accommodation facilities, the ability to perform pilgrimage rituals, and institutional governance for tourism. This paper argues that Buddhist pilgrimage circuits operate more as a cultural landscape at a cognitive level rather than as a distinct physical route and a product that can be effectively translated into as strategy for tourism development in Buddhist sites. Full article

This paper presents an online application—called 3D integrator—enabling visual cross-examinations of architectural and acoustic data on web browsers and explains the rationale behind its development. The tool consists of a series of overlays developed over the Potree 3D point cloud renderer. It is used to display visually, in an interactive environment, the 3D point clouds resulting from a survey protocol tailored to the specific needs of the corpus under scrutiny—15 small-scale edifices often referred to as “minor heritage assets”—and to the research’s overall ambition, reasoning on architectural and acoustic features at an interdisciplinary level. One of the tool’s distinctive features is to project abstract information (acoustic descriptors) in a “close to real” 3D space (point clouds), hence merging scientific visualisation and information visualisation practices. The paper first shortly sums up the particularities of the survey protocol and discusses the implementation of the analytical add-ons that have been introduced (visual trace of the survey protocol itself, volume calculation, and exploratory 3D representation of acoustic descriptors). It then focuses on use cases that illustrate what the approach helps to observe concerning the interiors of edifices when capturing and co-examining dimensional and acoustic features. Full article

This article traces the history of the medieval oasis city of Sijilmassa, southeastern Morocco, and that of its modern, continuation city of metropolitan Rissani in the Tafilalt region. Elements of mobility and transition are discussed in light of the prominent historical role of the urban settlement in Tafilalt in long-distance trans-Saharan trade infrastructure. These elements are developed with a focus on the region’s Jewish communities, their socio-spatial characteristics, the employed toponymy with respect to Sijilmassa, and the material culture. Within the material culture of Tafilalt’s Jewry until the 1950s and 1960s (that is, upon their dramatic emigration from Morocco, mostly to Israel), the article analyzes in an original manner their traditional marriage contracts (ketubah-s) as a textual and especially as an esthetic artifact. The analysis interprets the visual imagery that appears in these manuscripts—an imagery that corresponds with global Jewish symbols, with the vernacular architecture in the Tafilalt, and with wider regional, trans-Saharan conceptual motifs. Revealing the composite symbolic imagery and decoding the visual repertoire of the ketubah-s against the rich cultural histories of the pre-Sahara region—with affinity to both northern Morocco and sub-Saharan, “black”, Africa—necessitates an interdisciplinary approach. This study brings together area studies (of the Middle East and Africa), art histories (of architecture and built forms, artifacts, and manuscripts), cultural studies (critical intra-group relations between Arabs, Berbers and Jews), and human geography (forms of settlements and long-distance trade activity)—in a type of meeting that is quite uncommon in the relevant research literature. Its contribution lies in tracing the dissemination of ideas and material cultures among less researched groups (southeastern Jewry) and regions (pre-Saharan) in Morocco, through engaging a transdisciplinary lens that requires an intimate acquaintance with associated research historiographies. Full article

Integrating complementary information from many available technologies is a question of growing interest among the Cultural Heritage community, due to the complexity of the cultural assets under study and of their contexts. Recently, this need has pushed the development of appropriate data fusion procedures for this sector, among which the authors wish to propose their approach for treating multi-source data from image-based methodologies, experimented with in a representative case study. The Chigi Palace of Ariccia hosted our investigation campaign on a precious monochrome painting by Giuseppe Cades (1788), the Graecia Vetus. The study encompasses a photogrammetric survey and two acoustic diagnostic methods, the innovative Frequency Resolved Acoustic Imaging technique and the more traditional Acoustic Tomography. The photogrammetric survey allows reconstruction of the surface morphology of the painting, generating a 3D Digital Elevation Model, while the acoustic methods detect the structural damage beneath the surface due to detachments and flaws, generating 2D images. The output of this heterogeneous datasets fusion is a multi-layer map, each layer representing a type of dataset that clearly shows how some deformations of the surface morphology appear correlated with the presence of sub-surface anomalies, wide air cavities and more superficial detachments revealed by the acoustic diagnostic methods. Beside the exam of the conservation state of the Graecia Vetus, the proposed procedure effectively guarantees access to the integrated information, offering the possibility to understand the correlation between the causes and the effects of the decay process, as well as the retrieval of the single analysis in order to deepen one specific aspect. Full article

The first inhabitants of the site of the Colonial town of Villa de Leyva were Native Americans and not the Spanish Conquerors of the Eastern Andes of Boyacá. New data now suggest a resident population of Muisca already there perhaps for centuries before the city’s founding. Research suggests potential archaeological evidence of domestic groups practicing intensive agriculture including raised field cultivation. Additionally, hydraulic features, sanctuary architecture, and unique ritual artifacts associate with a nearby mountain temple aligned with the astronomical-meteorological observatory at El Infiernito connected by a possible processional pilgrimage route. These findings underscore the complex relationship of socioeconomic factors, cosmic ontogeny, and natural environment for understanding the degree of political centralization in evolution of Muisca chiefdoms. Full article

The start of the consumer society in Norway is examined by studying the increased imports of colorants and their constituents during the 18th century. Based on historical customs records, 82 imported pigments and dyes, 27 binders and additives and nine mordants and auxiliaries are presented. Imports increased significantly in the middle and at end of the century, representing two chromatic “revolutions”. This was especially evident for lead white and indigo; being the only particularly white and blue pigments used for painting and dyeing, respectively. Red dyes at different prices and properties (brazilwood, madder and cochineal) met the demands for red textile coloring in different social groups. The study presents a comprehensive overview of colorant imports and provides new insights in the development of consumption in Norway. Colorant imports were probably initiated by a supply-driven positive feed-back loop as a result of increased export trade. This was followed by a demand-driven loop, involving increased domestic trade, product preferences, “fashionability”, consumer culture, economic conditions and enlightenment. A model is presented that can contribute to a further understanding of the start of the consumer society in the second half of the 18th century in Norway. Full article

Historical street scenes materialize essential cultural and artistic values for the cities in which they are located and their citizens. However, the visual quality of historical scenes is susceptible to a number of causes that could result in their deterioration. These causes can be environmental or man-made, with either generating elements that may influence the perceived visual quality of historical scenes. Therefore, this research is to assess the visual quality of historical street scenes and identify the elements that can potentially impact them. The study adopted a photo survey approach employing a Likert Scale as the main method to assess visual quality. In addition, a heatmap analysis technique was utilized to identify the elements that impact the visual quality of historical street scenes. The results indicate respondents’ high levels of dissatisfaction with the visual quality of Baghdad’s historical street scenes. The results also showed that modern facade materials, security concrete walls, and degraded buildings’ facades are elements that had a negative impact to the overall scenic quality. On the other hand, historical religious buildings, urban greenery, and unique historical buildings are elements that have a positive impact on the visual quality of historical street scenes. This research represents an approach for evaluating the visual impact and visual quality of historical street scenes, providing a quantitative tool for future initiatives focusing on the visual quality of historical legacy scenes. This research is a starting point for both researchers in urban conservation and architectural history, and municipal offices of improving the visual quality of historic streets scenes. Full article