Vol. 29 • No. 1
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Spring 2006
Ed Stiles
Alix Deymier, a senior in Materials Science and Engineering, works on a fresco painting using traditional, raw-egg-based paints during a heritage conservation science lab class. The class introduces students to traditional technologies that have been used from the Stone Age to present.
UA engineers help to save and reconstruct the past
E
ach time an ancient vase disintegrates, a ceramic tile crumbles or a painting cracks and fades, another link to the past is lost and we understand just a little less about where we came from and, ultimately, who we are. When the last artisan dies and an ancient technology is lost, we’re similarly impoverished, says Professor Pamela Vandiver, an internationally recognized expert in artifact preservation, who holds a joint appointment in Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and in Anthropology. Vandiver came to UA last year to
start a program in Heritage Conservation Science (HCS) that trains students to stabilize, preserve and better understand ancient artifacts and how they were created and used. The curriculum, which combines engineering, anthropology, architectural history and art history is particularly important today because many of the material links to our past are disintegrating, while the ancient technologies that created them are disappearing. “To preserve our inheritance, we really need a group of scientists and
engineers who can work with conservators and other experts to stabilize and preserve these objects,” Vandiver says. Knowing how these objects were made is just as important as preserving them, she added. Vandiver came to UA because much of the basic infrastructure needed to start an HCS program already existed on campus. In addition, UA has a long history of socio-cultural studies and interdisciplinary cooperation between the MSE Continued on Page 11