TABLE OF CONTENTS The application of the physical sciences to answer the questions of archaeology and the history of art dates back to the 18 th century, but the establishment of laboratories dedicated to this type of work came some time later. The first of these, the Konigliche Laboratory in Berlin, was established in 1888 but unfortunately did not survive the First World War. However, the same conflict led the British Museum to appoint its first scientist in 1920, in response to the deteriorated condition of obj ects that had been stored underground for safe-keeping during the war years. [1] Whether the object of an investigation is an axe or an oil painting, the identification of its material is critical to a full understanding of the reasons for its corrosion or deterioration and to the determination of the appropriate treatment and storage environment.
A second area of interest involves the application of physical science to understand issues such as where an object was made (its provenance) and the details of its manufacture. An obvious application is in the investigation of the techniques of the great artists, but many other, more mundane, materials of interest are recovered as a result of archaeological excavation. While radiocarbon dating is probably the archaeological technique that is...
