Ecuador And Panama Use Nuclear Techniques To Research, Restore And Protect Their Cultural Heritage

By Ellen Swabey-Van de Borne and Karla Molina Diaz, IAEA Department of Technical Cooperation

Nuclear science is helping Ecuador and Panama uncover hidden details in cultural artefacts, revealing rare insights and preserving cultural heritage.

The IAEA has been working with experts in both countries and across the region to expand how nuclear techniques are used to study centuries-old works of art. By revealing details such as mineral composition and the use of pigments, dyes and binders, these methods are helping researchers better understand, date and preserve valuable cultural heritage artefacts.

Ecuador: Radiation Technology Deepens Understanding Of Influential Artist’s Work

With IAEA support, Ecuador’s National Institute of Cultural Heritage has applied nuclear analytical techniques to study the works of Miguel de Santiago, one of Ecuador’s most influential 17thcentury artists. Santiago was a leading figure in the Quito pictorial tradition – a Latin American artistic movement that combined Indigenous and European artistic influences. The Institute used techniques such as X-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to better understand the pictorial techniques used in Santiago’s oeuvre, including the use of specific pigments, dyes and binders.

“We couldn’t be prouder of this achievement, which is the results of many years of hard work,” said Martha Romero from the National Institute of Cultural Heritage. “Now that we have been trained to use nuclear analytical techniques to uncover cultural heritage secrets, we plan to expand this work to promote Ecuadorian artists,” she added.

A new virtual exhibition, “Miguel de Santiago: Beyond the Legend,” combines historical research with these scientific findings to make new discoveries about the artist’s work accessible worldwide. Online viewers can explore the artist’s work and his pictorial evolution, and immerse themselves in his historical and cultural context. “In addition to clarifying and honouring the memory of this outstanding artist, the project shows how nuclear techniques can play a key role in protecting and preserving cultural heritage around the world,” said an IAEA nuclear physicist and technical officer for this project Aliz Simon.

Panama: Non-destructive Nuclear Techniques Used to Restore Pre-Columbian Ceramics

With IAEA support, Panama’s National Directorate of Cultural Heritage is applying non-destructive nuclear techniques to disinfect, sterilize and restore hundreds of pre-Columbian ceramic fragments for display in the soon to re-opened Reina Torres de Araúz Anthropological Museum.

Home to thousands of artefacts showcasing an important part of Panama’s history, the Reina Torres Museum is expected to reopen in 2027 after being closed for more than twenty years. In preparation, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage requested IAEA support in identifying and characterizing new pieces in the museum’s collection using X-ray diffraction.

X-ray diffraction is a non-destructive, highly sensitive technique that uses X-rays to uncover information about crystalline materials, such as pigments and silicon, whose constituents are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure. It can be used on very small samples of many different types of crystalline materials. The technique is routinely used to better understand, or in some cases verify, the provenance and background of cultural artefacts by examining their component materials. It enables experts to determine the chemical composition, atomic arrangement and origin of physical objects ranging from millennia-old statuettes to modern works of art.

In Panama, ceramic samples dating from 550 to 950 A.D. were pulverized and exposed to X-rays to reveal their composition. By establishing the presence of plagioclase minerals, quartz and magnetite in the artefacts, Panamanian anthropologists were able to ascertain their historical context.

To facilitate this work, the IAEA trained experts, conducted missions and procured a pH meter, chloride-detecting equipment and electron microscopes for the National Directorate of Cultural Heritage.

“The pieces of ceramic that we could characterize in this way are testaments to an important part of Panama’s history,” said Head of Cultural Landscapes and Outreach at the National Directorate of Cultural Heritage Roxana Pino. “Characterized by their bold colours and incised painting techniques, they also look beautiful, and we are excited to soon be able to share them with the world for the first time in over 20 years,” she added.

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• Cornago is assistant director and John Springford is an associate fellow at the Centre for European Reform.