Scientific Methods in the Examination 

 and Conservation of Antiquities ' 



By A. E. A. Werner 



Department of Research Laboratory, British Museum 



[With 4 plates] 

 INTRODUCTION 



It was at the beginning of the 19th century that scientists first 

 began to show an interest in tlie composition of the metallic alloys 

 used by the ancients. This early work has been reviewed in some 

 detail by Earle Caley [1],^ who gives credit to Gobel for recognizing 

 brass as a Koman alloy, to Wocel for being the first to attempt a 

 correlation between chemical composition and the date and place 

 of origin of an object, and to Fellenberg for his series of papers on 

 the composition of prehistoric central European bronzes. These 

 early researches were undoubtedly of value to the archeologist, but 

 they were of a rather spasmodic nature and devoted to specific topics. 

 The intensive application of scientific methods in the field of arche- 

 ology is of more recent origin ; it may, in fact, be said to have begun 

 with the pioneer work of Rathgen round about 1900 when the firet 

 laboratory devoted to museum problems was set up in Berlin. Since 

 the First World War, this idea of museum laboratories has spread 

 far and wide on an ever increasing scale. In these laboratories an 

 unique opportunity has been afforded for the chemist or physicist 

 to apply his specialized knowledge to studying the various problems 

 that arise in the scientific examination and conservation of antiquities. 

 This involves the development of a thorouglily scientific approach 

 to conservation and the adoption of scientific tecliniques aimed at 

 obtaining precise information about the methods and materials used 

 by craftsmen in the past. 



We will first consider the question of the conservation of antiquities 

 as seen from the point of view of the scientist. Here there are two 

 main aims: the first is concerned with the diagnosis of the factors 



1 Reprinted by permission from Science Progress, vol. 50, No. 200, October 1902. The 

 illustrations (pis. 1-4) are copyrighted by the British Museum. 

 * Numbers in brackets indicate references at end of paper. 



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