A Geometric Feature-Based Algorithm for the Virtual Reading of Closed Historical Manuscripts.

X-ray Computed Tomography (CT), a commonly used technique in a wide variety of research fields, nowadays represents a unique and powerful procedure to discover, reveal and preserve a fundamental part of our patrimony: ancient handwritten documents. For modern and well-preserved ones, traditional document scanning systems are suitable for their correct digitization, and, consequently, for their preservation; however, the digitization of ancient, fragile and damaged manuscripts is still a formidable challenge for conservators. The X-ray tomographic approach has already proven its effectiveness in data acquisition, but the algorithmic steps from tomographic images to real page-by-page extraction and reading are still a difficult undertaking.

X-ray Digital Radiography and Computed Tomography.

In recent years, X-ray imaging has rapidly grown and spread beyond the medical field; today, it plays a key role in diverse research areas [...

X-ray Tomography Unveils the Construction Technique of Un-Montu's Egyptian Coffin (Early 26th Dynasty).

The Bologna Archaeological Museum, in cooperation with prestigious Italian universities, institutions, and independent scholars, recently began a vast investigation programme on a group of Egyptian coffins of Theban provenance dating to the first millennium BC, primarily the 25th-26th Dynasty ( 746-525 BC). Herein, we present the results of the multidisciplinary investigation carried out on one of these coffins before its restoration intervention: the anthropoid wooden coffin of Un-Montu (Inv. MCABo EG1960).

"Ecce Homo" by Antonello da Messina, from non-invasive investigations to data fusion and dissemination.

Scientific investigations of artworks are crucial in terms of preservation since they provide a measurable evaluation of the materials and the state of conservation. This is the case of Antonello da Messina's painting "Ecce Homo": its delicate state of conservation, with the need for constant monitoring, required a broad and in-depth diagnostic campaign to support the restorers. The project was carried out entirely in situ using non-invasive cutting-edge techniques and proposes a multimodal and data-centric approach, integrating 3D and 2D methodologies.

Chemical analysis and computed tomography of metallic inclusions in Roman glass to unveil ancient coloring methods.

This paper describes the analysis of two near-spherical metallic inclusions partially incorporated within two Roman raw glass slags in order to elucidate the process that induced their formation and to determine whether their presence was related to ancient glass colouring processes. The theory of metallic scraps or powder being used in Roman times for glass-making and colouring purposes is widely accepted by the archaeological scientific community, although the assumption has been mainly based on oral traditions and documented medieval practices of glass processing. The analysis of the two inclusions, carried out by X-ray computed tomography, electrochemical analyses, and scanning electron microscopy, revealed their material composition, corrosion and internal structure.