IBA analysis of a laser cleaned archaeological metal object: The San Esteban de Gormaz cross (Soria-Spain)

Abstract

The object under study, a 12th century gilded copper cross with a wooden core, now almost disappeared, shows the typical features produced by a long burial time: the entire surface of the copper alloys is covered by several layers of degradation products, which hinder the “legibility” of the cross in terms of the original materials and manufacturing techniques employed. In its cleaning several techniques have been applied and compared (dry and wet laser ablation, mechanical ablation, ultrasound brush). In the intermediate cleaning phase the cross has been extensively analysed with the external proton micro-beam of the Centro de Micro-Análisis de Materiales (CMAM) of the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. PIXE and RBS techniques have been used in parallel, to asses both the chemical composition and the layered structure of cleaned and original parts with the aim of verifying that none of the object structural features are being modified by the cleaning process leaving intact the possibility of artistic interpretation of the object (e.g. small series production of the cross elements). The recovery of this exceptional ornamental object is made possible by the coordinated work of several professionals coming from various disciplines and aimed at establishing the importance of this cross in terms of its physical appearance and in terms of the manufacturing techniques.