Towards identification of traditional European and indigenous Australian paint binders using pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry

• The first paper to examine both Australian and European paint binders in within the same py-GC MS study.
• Unique pyrolysis products identified for each binder.
• Hierarchical cluster analysis shows that py-GC MS can be used to classify binders.

We report a pyrolysis GC–MS method capable of analysing Indigenous Australian and European binders typically used in the manufacture of culturally important painted works. Eleven different traditional European binders and ten different Indigenous Australian binders were examined. The method allows discrimination between highly complex and impure lipid, resin, polysaccharide, wax, and protein-based binders. Each was found to have characteristic pyrolysis products that were unique to the binder material, demonstrating the potential for differentiation of these binders on Australian Aboriginal artworks towards identification and conservation of cultural heritage.

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