Materials in Cultural Heritage: Analysis, Testing, and Preservation

Dear Colleagues,

The achievements of past generations are a valuable tangible or intangible memory for the present, as we admire and learn from the actions of the past. In short, we call this memory cultural heritage, which is both material and immaterial. It is, however, the material heritage that is subject to constant deterioration and decay; therefore, it requires special care for its preservation. On the other hand, some historical facts about the objects’ production, usage and distribution are hidden within the objects themselves and not well understood, so we are hoping to learn more about them by applying specific analytical methods, which may reveal unseen connections between objects and their use, regions, and cultural groups. Today, several researchers devote their efforts to the studies of cultural heritage objects, both in terms of their preservation (or conservation) and investigation. Their endeavours traditionally bear the name of archaeometry and conservation science, with both terms recently being supplemented by the term heritage science.

A year ago, we edited a Special Issue of Materials entitled “Material Analysis in Cultural Heritage”. Due to increased interest in the field, we are now calling for the second part under an updated name “Materials in Cultural Heritage: Analysis, Testing, and Preservation”, with the following key points:

• Environmental monitoring of the CH storage and display areas;
• Degradation studies on the objects of CH;
• Innovative conservation procedures;
• Authenticity testing of CH objects and detection of forgery;
• Application of dating techniques;
• Development of specialized analytical techniques;
• Studies of specific materials: archaeological and historic glass, metals, pigments and lithic materials;
• Experimental archaeology, i.e., reconstruction of ancient techniques and materials.

You are invited to submit a manuscript.

Prof. Dr. Žiga Šmit
Dr. Eva Menart
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• cultural heritage materials
• archaeological materials
• ancient techniques and materials
• analytical techniques