Bøger af Michael Wiescher

The history of the Jewish people is complex; it is a history spanning centuries of migration after expulsion from Jerusalem and Judea by Titus in 77 AD. The Jewish people spread and settled throughout the entire Roman Empire and stayed after its collapse. Large Jewish populations are known to have settled in the regions along the Upper Rhine valley, close to the former border of Germania. They had their settlements, their trade, their temples and their rabbis. One of the most famous was Rashi who lived in that area in the 11th century, preaching and teaching the Talmud. This story follows a branch of the descendants of Rashi through the turbulent times of the Crusades, which eradicated most of the Jewish communities in the Alsace and along the Upper Rhine valley. Many found refuge in the Ghetto of Frankfurt, the Judengasse, where for centuries and many generations they lived under the protection of city and emperor. One of these descendants broke with Jewish tradition during the time of the Enlightenment and converted to Christianity, adopting a new name and becoming the pedigree of a new family branch, the Rottensteins. While the first Rottenstein generation emerged as early revolutionaries, fighting for freedom and liberty in Germany, they were exiled and spread across Europe with one branch emigrating to the United States. The fate of the Rottenstein family reflects the history and development of their times. This book follows the different family branches, leading in some cases to scientific and cultural fame and in other cases to false claims of origin and heritage, but in most cases to success in the emerging modern world.

The characterization of cultural heritage objects becomes increasingly important for conservation, restoration, dating, and authentication purposes. The use of scientific methods in archaeometry and conservation science has led to a significant broadening of the field. Scientific analysis of these objects is a challenging task due to their complex composition, artistic and historical values requiring the use of minimally invasive and nondestructive analytical procedures. This textbook summarizes scientific methods that are currently used to characterize objects of cultural heritage and archaeological artifacts.This book provides a brief description of the structure of matter at the molecular, atomic, and nuclear levels. Furthermore, it discusses the chemical and physical nature of materials from the molecular to the atomic and nuclear level as determined by the principles of quantum mechanics. Important aspects of natural and anthropogenic radioactivity that play a critical role for some of the analytical techniques are also emphasized. The textbook also provides principals and applications of spectroscopic methods for characterization of cultural heritage objects. It describes the technologies with specific examples for utilization of spectroscopic techniques in the characterization of paintings, books, coins, ceramics, and other objects. Analytic approaches that employ isotopes and determination of isotope ratios will be reviewed. General principles of imaging techniques and specific examples for utilization of these methods will also be summarized. In the later part of the book, a number of scientific techniques for the age determination of cultural heritage material and archaeological artifacts will be presented and discussed with specific examples.