Author Description

Symposium WW, "Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IX," was held Nov. 29-Dec. 3 at the 2010 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The symposium again featured cutting-edge topics, interdisciplinary research, and innovative applications of traditional and novel analytical methods. Its focus is: characterization of art objects and archaeological artifacts; analysis and reconstruction of the technologies of selection, preparation, production, testing and performance by which materials are produced and transformed into useful, significant and beautiful objects; studies of the properties and performance of ancient objects and the processes underlying their deterioration, preservation and conservation; and the development of sensors, proxies and other tools and methods for evaluation of long-term stability, for non-destructive, in-situ examination and characterization, and for testing new methods and materials for conservation treatment. Preservation of cultural heritage includes developing a critical understanding of how ancient people developed, used and transferred technologies to solve problems of survival, organization and the making of objects that represent what was important to them.