Ultrasonic Signal Processing For Archaeological Ceramic Restoration

This paper presents an application of ultrasonic signal processing to find parameters related with physical properties of archaeological ceramic pieces and consolidation products used in their restoration. Pieces consisted of ceramic fragments from Bronze, Iberian, Roman and Middle ages. Ultrasonic signals measured from the pieces were processed to derive an ultrasonic signature of the material properties. Signal parameters, such as, wave propagation velocity, dominant frequency, and signal attenuation, were estimated. Parameters were processed by linear discriminant analysis obtaining a good fitting for archaeological period classification. Ultrasonic signature based on centroid frequency evolution was dissimilar for different consolidation products. Ultrasound propagation velocity and others parameters were related with the material porosity