New cutting-edge materials science research is published today in Heritage Science by Dr Louisa Campbell (Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Leadership Fellow in Archaeology) in Heritage Science. This vanguard research uses multiple analytical techniques to identify pigments that were applied to an iconic Roman relief sculpture that was once embedded into the Antonine Wall and then found its way to Aberdeenshire to be embedded into Dunnottar Castle where it was repainted during the Renaissance. Portable non-invasive technologies were supplemented by micro-analysis and laboratory-based techniques to provide a comprehensive survey and stratigraphic sequence of the pigments that may have been applied during the Roman period and others that were only available during the 15th and 16th Centuries.  Future work will use the results to digitally reconstruct how this Classical sculpture would have been adorned during the Renaissance.

https://heritagesciencejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40494-022-00790-7

Antonine Wall Distance Sculpture (Hunterian Museum No. GLAHM.F1)


First published: 5 October 2022

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