ABOUT
What questions can we now ask about heritage resources that we never before thought was possible? This question lies at the core of this LINXS theme. Recent advancements in neutron and X-ray science have opened the door to new applications that bridge the divide between the sciences and the humanities, and these powerful techniques can be harnessed to ask central questions about humanity’s history and shared patrimony.
Heritage resources are the culturally and scientifically significant objects, artefacts, and places that modern society has inherited from past generations. This includes both natural resources, such as fossils, sediments, and landscapes, as well as cultural resources including art, archaeological artefacts, and ancient buildings. Heritage resources are of great interest to both academic and public communities, as they can help us reflect on and understand our shared human origins. Synchrotron and neutron techniques have the potential to open new frontiers in the study of heritage resources by providing scientists with the tools needed to powerfully, yet non-invasively, characterise, image, and communicate these critically important and often invaluable materials. This interdisciplinary theme will bring together archaeologists, anthropologists, art historians, palaeontologists, geologists, chemists, and physicists to explore the cutting-edge potential of using synchrotron and neutron science to study and understand our shared cultural and natural heritage.
Heritage Science Core Group leader and WG 2: Conservation leader, LINXS Fellow
Mikael Fauvelle, Researcher at the Archaeology Department, Lund University, Sweden.
Mikael Fauvelle is an archaeologist interested in the origins of complex economic systems. His research focuses on understanding how technological innovation spurred the development of long-distance trade networks and facilitated the formation of systems of social inequality. To map ancient exchange systems, he has employed non-destructive scientific methods including infrared spectrometry, pXRF, and synchrotron XRF. He is currently the director of the Complex Canoes project, which is using new scientific methods including SXRF to study museum collections of Bronze Age sewn plank boats. Other recent projects include research on the origins of money, trade systems in ancient Mesoamerica, and long-term resilience in maritime hunter-gatherer societies.