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Currently, the study and characterisation of archaeological items and works of art comprises a wide range of disciplines and integrates multidisciplinary teams of archaeologists, historians, physicists, chemists, etc., who apply the scientific method with a common objective: the study of the materials used in the elaboration of cultural property. The conference aims to show, through examples, the potentialities of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) as a non-destructive analytical technique applied to the study of historical and cultural heritage.
The conference has two parts. The first part comprises a brief technical introduction with the description of the physical principles and the instrumentation in which the technique is based. In the second part presents examples of applications to the study and characterisation of various artistic manifestations in the field of cave painting, mural painting, altarpieces, painting on canvas, ceramic pigments, glass, metal alloys, paper and inks.
Brief CV
Clodoaldo Roldán is a full-time professor in the Department of Applied Physics and Electromagnetism of the University of Valencia and researcher attached to the Materials Science Institute of the University of Valencia (ICMUV). He teaches Physics subjects in different degrees at the University of Valencia: Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Telematics Engineering, Electronic and Industrial Engineering, Biology, Medicine and Surgery. He is also a professor in subjects related to analytical techniques applied to the characterisation of the material cultural heritage of the Master in Archaeology and the Master in Cultural Heritage, both at the University of Valencia. He has developed lines of research related to nuclear techniques and Monte-Carlo simulations applied to the characterisation of radioactive sources, the study of proton activation of materials for space detectors and the measurement of environmental radioactivity. He is currently the technical director of the Ambient Radioactivity Laboratory of the University of Valencia (LARAM) and head of the Archaeometry unit of the ICMUV. Secretary of the Society of Archaeometry Applied to Cultural Heritage. With his research in archaeometry he collaborates with different departments of the Faculty of Geography and History of the University of Valencia, the Institute for Applied Technologies in Cultural Heritage, the University of Sassari, the University of Rome, as well as different institutions such as the National Museum of Ceramics and Sumptuous Arts "González Martí", the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia, the Valencian Institute of Conservation and Restoration, the Museum of Prehistory of Valencia and the Institute of Cultural Heritage of Spain, among other institutions related to the conservation and safeguarding of material cultural heritage He is the author and co-author of more than 70 scientific publications and a hundred contributions in national and international conferences.
More information
- Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory (LARAM)
- A study shows that Sorolla used even twenty different pigments in the sketches ‘Visión de España’
- Identified plant cells in Les Dogues that reveal the species with which the black pigments in the cave paintings were created
- Organic components of Levantine rock art investigated for the first time with massive DNA and protein analysis techniques
- A physical-nuclear technique fixes for the first time the origin of Valencian flint and establishes new mobility parametres in the Paleolithic
Social networks
- @FacFisicaUV
- @CdCienciaUV
- @MednightGTS
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Stimulating scientific vocations is a project of the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit of the University of Valencia, which has co-funding from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
