Course on ancient metals

Summer Intensive Course on Ancient Metals and Metallography

"Ancient and Historic Metals: Technology, Microstructure, and
    Corrosion"
University College London
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Torrington Place
London WC1E 7JE, UK.
July 22-26, 2013

This is close to Malet Street and Gower Street. A great central
London location.

Instructor: Dr. David A. Scott, Professor, Department of Art
History, Founding Director, UCLA/Getty Programme in Archaeological
and Ethnographic Conservation.

Course Aims: This five-day course will act both as an introduction
and a focus of more intensive study dealing with the examination,
analysis, metallographic examination and corrosion 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 with the
aid of polished cross-sections.

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
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 samples and are encouraged to keep digital
images which can be downloaded directly to their own computer, 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:

    Dr. David A. Scott
    Professor, Department of Art History, UCLA.

    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. His book on Iron and Steel: Corrosion, Colorants,
    Conservation, written with Professor Gerhard Eggert, was
    published from London in July 2009.

    Professor Scott's most recent books are very relevant for this
    course, and were published in 2011 and 2012.  "Ancient Metals:
    Microstructure and Metallurgy, Volume 1", ISBN 978-0982933800,
    the volume from 2011, is included in the cost of the course:
    each participant will receive one copy of this volume. Other
    background reading which relates directly to the samples we
    shall study during the week have been published in the second
    volume of this series, Gold and Platinum Metallurgy of Ancient
    Ecuador and Colombia, ISBN 978-0982933848, together with volume
    three, some additional plates for this topic, ISBN
    978-0982933831, and additional bronzes available for study whose
    microstructures were published in Copper and Bronze in Art, ISBN
    978-0892366389, mentioned above.

    For further details regarding ordering of these additional books
    please contact the author.

Please send an e-mail to:  dascott<-at->ucla<.>edu to register for this
course. Include brief details of your background, education and
current interest in ancient metals. If you have an interest in a
particular area of ancient metals which can be examined using
polished samples, please do let me know when registering, as
selected samples have to be transported from the USA to the UK for
this course. Professor Scott has published over 110 papers in the
peer-reviewed literature and eight books. He has been an editor for
the journal Studies in Conservation for the past 30 years.

Course Schedule: The course will be held over the five days,
Monday-Friday, July 22-26, 2013.

The course will take place at UCL Department of Mechanical
Engineering, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE.  Many nearby hotels
and hostels can be found in this area. The course will run from
9:15am-5pm each day.

The course is open to a maximum of 10 participants only.

Course Costs:  The cost of the instruction for the five days will be
$900.00 or sterling equivalent of this amount (550 Pounds Sterling).
For details of payment and to register for this course, 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<-at->ucla<.>edu

Course Details:

Monday

    Introduction, use of the metallurgical microscope and the taking
    of digital images. The use of JScale to create scale bars for
    the images, the mounting and polishing of samples, their
    preparation, use of resins, grinding and polishing. Introduction
    to phase diagrams, using the copper-silver equilibrium diagram
    and examination of silver-copper alloys from the ancient world.
    Examples of Sasanian silver plates, ancient Greek silver,
    Byzantine silver platters, Renaissance silver plaques and dishes
    and Ecuadorian silver-copper alloys. Introduction to copper and
    bronze. Examination of the different versions of the copper-tin
    phase diagram and their application to ancient bronzes and
    copper alloys. Mounting and polishing of ancient samples and how
    different kinds of etching can be used.

Tuesday

    Continuation of the examination of copper-tin and
    copper-tin-lead alloys. Wide variety of laboratory-made alloys
    and ancient samples encompassing the copper-tin series and
    copper-tin-lead.  Ancient Chinese bronze mirrors. South American
    copper-arsenic alloys, and ancient Greek bronzes will be
    highlighted. Casting and working of metals and aspects of bronze
    casting in the ancient world. Colour etching of selected mounted
    samples. Recording of samples with digital camera and case
    studies in the examination of a group of Greek copper alloy
    plaques and Renaissance bronze figurines will be discussed.

Wednesday:

    Continuation of practical session. Examination of mounted
    samples of copper alloys.  Introduction to the metallurgy of
    iron and the iron-carbon phase diagram.  Preparation of
    metallographic samples of iron from Anglo-Saxon and Mediaeval
    sites in Great Britain, Ancient Turkey and Nigeria, Mafa
    ironwork from the Cameroons, Japanese sword blade, Chinese cast
    iron and meteoritic iron from Australia and the USA.

Thursday:

    Mounting and discussion of samples brought by students. Gold
    alloys and gilding. Examination of gold-copper alloys from
    ancient Colombia, gilded samples from Peru and Ecuador, and
    amalgam gilded artefacts from China and Europe. Examination of
    some ternary phase issues in relation to gold-silver-copper
    alloys. The corrosion of tumbaga alloys and aspects of the
    Pourbaix diagram.

Friday:

    Continuation of practical examination of mounted samples,
    including lead, zinc, tin, and nickel.  Some examples of
    stainless steels and other special or more modern metals, such
    as weathering steel and examination of mounted specimens
    prepared earlier in the week.


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 26:25
                 Distributed: Monday, November 12, 2012
                       Message Id: cdl-26-25-008
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