Holistic documentation of Cypriot ceramic zoomorphic rhyta dating to the Hellenistic Period

Abstract

Cultural assets of historical value need to be holistically documented to ensure their long-term preservation. A key component of the holistic docu-mentation of a cultural heritage object is the materials’ characterization by means of analytical techniques. In this work we have employed non-invasive analytical techniques (x-ray fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy and computed tomography) for the study of three ceramic zoomorphic rhyta, belonging to the museum of George and Nefeli Giabra Pierides located at the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foun-dation in Nicosia, Cyprus. The plain ware rhyta in the form of a he-goat are dating to the Hellenistic period (310-30 B.C). We have used non-invasive portable XRF and Raman spectroscopy for the in situ chemical characterization of color traces preserved at the surface of the three zoomorphic rhyta. In addition, we have em-ployed Computed Tomography (CT) as a non-invasive method to investigate the manufacturing technique of the ceramics. CT was used to visualize manufactur-ing details and to provide the accurate profiles of the ceramics, especially of the closed shapes. CT enabled a closer examination of the objects and generated a three-dimensional (3D) digital model of the artefacts which was used to replicate them using additive manufacturing (3D printing).