Lightfastness assessment of Levantine rock art by means of microfading spectrometry

Abstract

The documentation of archeological sites requires the adoption of non‐destructive techniques to safeguard the unique legacy coming from prehistoric periods. This article tackles the assessment of lightfastness properties on a rock art site to determine the behavior of motif's color deterioration over time in Remígia Cave, Castellón (Spain), which is considered part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The measurements were performed using a microfade testing device to analyze the spectral characteristics and the aging properties of the colorant system and various substrates on site. Two scenarios have been identified depending on whether the lightness (L*) parameter of the rocky substrate changes or not in relation with the painted motifs. If the substrate remains stable without any change, red motifs containing iron oxide pigments will become more visible. If the substrate becomes lighter, the pigments will experience similar changes. Therefore, the contrast between paintings and support will be considerably enhanced.

Analysis of photoaging characteristics of Chinese traditional pigments and dyes in different environments based on color difference principle

“…Chinese traditional painting uses brush dipping pigment to draw, but the sample prepared by this method has poor uniformity and will interfere with the later measurement 21 . We prepared the sample using the method shown in Figure 1.…”

Correlated Functional Models with Derivative Information for Modeling Microfading Spectrometry Data on Rock Art Paintings

“…To simplify the covariance structure and the computational requirements of inverting the Gram matrix of the covariance function when performing inference on GPs, a null covariance between the spline coefficients associated with a different order in the model can be considered, which is equivalent to defining K independent GP prior distributions, one for each 5 containing the input values for the ith spatial location as described in Section 4, and vector of length-scale parameters ρ k = (ρ 1k , . .…”

“…The present research is focused on the paintings located in Cova Remigia open-air rock art shelter in Castellón (Spain), which is part of the Spanish Levantine rock art paintings of the Mediterranean basin on the Iberian Peninsula declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 1998. There is still a lack of knowledge about their conservation status and how rock art is deteriorating [4][5][6]. Rock art paintings are prone to different types of weathering, not only due to human activity but mainly through natural weathering processes [7,8].…”

Dominant Color Extraction with K-Means for Camera Characterization in Cultural Heritage Documentation

“…However, there are still issues to be addressed, such as the precise specification of color which is an essential attribute in cultural heritage documentation. An accurate measurement of color allows the current state description of historical objects, and gives trustworthy information about its degradation or aging over time [13].…”