Miriam Truffa Giachet

Haute Ecole Arc Neuchâtel · Conservation-Restauration

Overview on methodology and preliminary results of the archaeometrical study of glass beads found in archaeological digs carried out in West Africa by the APA team.

Preliminary results of microscopic examination of glass beads found in several West African archaeological sites.

Cellulose acetate film plasticized with diethyl phthalate was subjected to artificial ageing regimes and the loss of plasticizer determined by means of Thermogravimetric Analysis and Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Alterations in the strain hardening capability of the films was monitored by Dynamic Mechanical Analysis, and the connection b...

This paper focuses on the chemical and physical characterization of cellulose acetate animation cels from the Walt Disney Animation Research Library dating from 1931 to 2003. The aim of this study is to compare the composition and date of the cels to their degree of deterioration relative to the storage conditions. The chemical composition was inve...

The application of varnishes on the surface of metal objects has been a very common practice since antiquity, both for protective and aesthetic purposes. One specific case concerns the use of tinted varnishes on copper alloys in order to mimic gilding. This practice, especially flourishing in the 19th century for scientific instruments, decorative...

The presence of glass beads in West African archaeological sites provides important evidence of long-distance trade between this part of the continent and the rest of the world. Until recently, most of these items came from historical Sub-Saharan urban centers, well known for their role in the medieval trans-Saharan trade. We present here the chemi...

The so-called Phoenician or Punic eye beads are a well-known type of glass artefacts circulating all over the Mediterranean Basin and Europe for most of the 1st millennium BCE. Glass beads were mostly produced in secondary workshops from imported raw glass or recycled artefacts but the specific sites of manufacture remain difficult to locate. Never...

Le présent rapport de la campagne 2017 au Sénégal oriental, menée dans le cadre du programme international « Peuplement humain et paléoenvironnement en Afrique », intègre les résultats de deux projets complémentaires : le projet ANR-FNS CheRCHA, ainsi que le projet FNS Falémé. Le premier vise à reconstituer le cadre chronostratigraphique et les évo...

Systematic archaeometrical investigation of large glass assemblages is essential in order to conduct consistent and reliable studies on their production, processing and trade. If we specifically consider glass beads in Africa, this approach played a key role in the southern and eastern parts of the continent, leading to the creation of a significan...

Cette 19ème année de recherches du programme « Peuplement humain et paléo-environnement en Afrique » constitue la première année du projet ANR-FNS CHeRCHA (Chronology of Rapid Climatic changes and Human adaptation in West Africa) et du projet FNS centré sur les dynamiques techniques des deux derniers millénaires dans la vallée de la Falémé. Cette m...

Cellulose diacetate and cellulose triacetate cels from animated feature films in the collection of the Walt Disney Animation Research Library were tested by several analytical techniques in order to assess their composition and look for evidence of degradation. Triphenyl phosphate and a range of phthalate plasticizers were identified using pyrolysi...