Silviu Ionita

By Silviu Ioniță and Daniela Ţurcanu-Caruțiu

This chapter describes how optical information and advanced image processing can be used to study archeological objects and artworks in order to determine more precisely and noninvasively the characteristics of the shape and color of artifacts. The purpose of this research is to develop a passive experimental technique for artifact investigation to help human experts make the best decisions in the process of authenticating and preserving-restoring objects. The method used is digital capture of object images followed by processing them with specialized software tools to analyze the chromatic characteristics and apparent geometric details. The proposed methodology consists of intelligently combining digital image analysis functions to build a set of chromatic-structural features useful for recognizing possible differences and estimating color and shape evolution. The investigation of the artifacts through digital image processing is a noninvasive and precise complementary method of analysis that can reduce the costs, and it must be extensively integrated into decision support systems for experts and curators in the field of artistic heritage preservation.

Part of the book: Advanced Methods and New Materials for Cultural Heritage Preservation

By Silviu Ioniță and Daniela Ţurcanu-Caruțiu

The biggest problem faced by the specialists in the field of cultural heritage is the identification of the original elements for their separation from the large mass of the mosaic components that come from completions of the different restoration works. This chapter deals with analytical models for statistical evaluation of the morphological and chromatic characteristics that represent suitable metrics for making decisions in the field of cultural heritage. A classifier model based on fuzzy logical inference, which integrates discrete and statistical characteristics of the mosaic components, is presented. The classification will be done in a space of conventional measures (metrics) for identifying and separating the mosaic components. The exemplification of the method is made on the Roman Mosaic of Constanta, a historical monument that is currently in an advanced stage of deterioration and which requires urgent restoration-conservation interventions. This artifact dates from the third or fourth century, (possibly under the emperor Constantine the Great, 306–337); it is a pavement that has decorative elements specific to this marine area, part of a large construction that took place, in antiquity on three terraces, located on the Black Sea on the docks of the old Port Tomis.

Part of the book: Heritage