Development of a technique based on multi-spectral imaging for monitoring the conservation of cultural heritage objects

A new approach for monitoring the state of conservation of cultural heritage objects surfaces is being developed. The technique utilizes multi-spectral imaging, multivariate analysis and statistical process control theory for the automatic detection of a possible deterioration process, its localization and identification, and the wavelengths most sensitive to detecting this before the human eye can detect the damage or potential degradation changes occur. A series of virtual degradation analyses were performed on images of parchment in order to test the proposed algorithm in controlled conditions. The spectral image of a Dead Sea Scroll (DSS) parchment, IAA (Israel Antiquities Authority) inventory plate # 279, 4Q501 Apocryphal Lamentations B, taken during the 2008 Pilot of the DSS Digitization Project, was chosen for the simulation.

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► We develop a new approach for the monitoring of cultural heritage objects.
► The technique uses multispectral imaging coupled with multivariate analysis.
► We tested the technique on simulated data and on a sample of parchment artificially aged.
► The technique detected the degraded area and the interested wavelengths even for small degradations.