Looking into the past: the potential of x-radiography as an investigative technique for archaeological and ethnographic textiles

TL;DRAbstract

X-radiography is an established non-destructive analytical technique which is not usually applied to the investigation of textiles. This paper presents initial results of a five year project. This innovative and collaborative research between the Universities of Southampton and Bradford is being carried out under the auspices of the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies. The potential of X-radiography as a tool for the characterisation, condition assessment and study of archaeological and ethnographic textiles is presented. Specific techniques, which have been applied to the x-radiography of textiles, are outlined, including low kV imaging with appropriate filtration. Brief reference is made to the benefits of image digitisation and digital image processing of the resulting X-radiographs. As a result of collaborations with a number of U.K. museums and collections, a series of case studies of archeological, ethnographic an

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