Course on ancient metals

Summer School Course
"Ancient and Historic Metals"
The University of Southern California (USC)
16-20 July 2012

Course is limited to 10 participants only.

Course Aims: This five-day course will act as both an introduction
and a focus of more intensive study dealing with the examination,
analysis, metallographic examination and deterioration of ancient
and historic metals.  The course is designed to benefit
conservators, scientists and archaeologists who wish to learn how to
prepare metallic samples for metallographic study, learn something
of the technological aspects of the working and structure of metals,
and how corrosion and patination can be discussed and examined.

Artefacts for examination: Over the past 30 years an unrivalled
collection of mounted metallographic samples has been assembled,
which are studied as part of the course practical work, involving
both polarized light microscopy and metallographic microscopy of
both freshly polished and etched samples. These samples range from
cast iron from China to wootz steel from India, bronze coinage
alloys from the Roman Empire to high-tin bronze from ancient
Thailand, silver alloys from the Parthian period to ancient Ecuador,
gilded copper and tumbaga from Peru and Colombia, to mention only a
few of the geographical areas covered by available samples. Course
participants will be instructed in the use of polishing and etching
in the examination of ancient metals and are encouraged to keep
digital images of the samples they have prepared during the week.
Students may also bring their own samples for examination if mounted
and ground, or if not mounted, then one or two samples may be
brought which can be mounted and prepared during the course.

Course Instructor:

    Professor David A. Scott
    Founding Director of the MA program in Archaeological and
    Ethnographic Conservation at UCLA, 2003- 2011, and Professor,
    Department of Art History.

    His book, Copper and Bronze in Art: Corrosion, Colorants,
    Conservation won the prize from the Association of American
    Publishers as the best Scholarly/Art book published in the USA
    in 2002.  Professor Scott has published over 100 papers in the
    peer-reviewed literature and is an Editor for the journal:
    Studies in Conservation.

Course Schedule: The course will be held over five days from 16-20
July 2012.  The course will be held at the Archaeological Research
Center at the University of Southern California at the Ahmanson
Center, Room ACB335 (ARC Lab) and Room ACB330 (Gallery Room) on the
USC campus in Los Angeles from 9.15am - 5pm each day. More detailed
directions will be distributed to course participants. The course is
open to a maximum of 10 participants only.

Course Costs:  The cost of the instruction for the five days will be
$850.00. This cost also includes a free copy of Dr. Scott?s book:
Ancient Metals: Microstructure and Metallurgy Volume I: Copper and
Copper Alloys, published in 2011.

For details of payment and to register for this course, as well as
to receive information concerning nearby hotels in the USC vicinity,
please contact the course organizer and director:

      Professor David A. Scott
      Room A410
      The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA
      405 Hilgard Avenue
      Los Angeles CA 90095-1510, USA
      dascott<-a t->ucla< . >edu

Course Details:

Monday:

      Introduction, use of the metallurgical microscope, the
      mounting and polishing of samples, their preparation, use of
      resins, grinding and polishing.  Introduction to phase
      diagrams and their application to ancient bronzes and copper
      alloys. Copper-arsenical, copper-nickel, and copper-tin
      alloys. Casting and working of metals and aspects of bronze
      casting in the ancient world.  Etching of some copper alloys.
      Recording of samples with digital camera and case studies in
      the examination of a group of copper alloy plaques and a
      bronze figurine of the God Osiris will be discussed.

Tuesday:

      Continuation of the examination of copper-tin and
      copper-tin-lead alloys. Ancient coinage alloys of the Roman
      period, examination of copper-arsenic bronzes, aspects of the
      corrosion of bronze and copper alloys. The Pourbaix diagram
      and some of its applications.  The extraction of metals from
      their ores and some principles of the Ellingham diagram.

Wednesday:

      The phase diagram for copper-silver and lead-tin alloys.
      Examination of silver and debased silver alloys.  Surface
      enrichment and corrosion. Problems in the authentication of
      ancient silver and bronze alloys. Metallographic examination
      of ancient silver alloys and techniques of etching silver.
      Discontinuous precipitation phenomena and the age of silver
      alloys. Colour etching of both copper alloys and silver
      alloys. The Philosopher plate and the Strozzi silver basin:
      case studies from the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Thursday:

      Mounting of samples brought by students. Examination of some
      ternary phase issues in relation to gold-silver-copper alloys.
      The corrosion of tumbaga alloys and aspects of the Pourbaix
      diagram. Video concerning the extraction of iron and steel.
      Introduction to iron and steel.  The principles of corrosion
      and the eight types of corrosion of metals. The examination of
      iron from meteorites. The technology of ancient iron and steel
      in the West, in India and in China will be contrasted and
      samples illustrating these different technologies examined.
      The metallography of ancient iron alloys.

Friday:

    Corrosion issues of iron and steel.  Weathering steel and
    patinas, the nature of iron corrosion products and their
    implications for the stabilization of iron artefacts during
    conservation treatments. Gold and gold alloys: gilding:
    examination of gold alloys.  Lecture on the technology of
    ancient gold alloys in South America. Continuation of laboratory
    work in the examination of mounted samples.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 25:27
                Distributed: Saturday, December 3, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-25-27-006
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