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Historic Preservation Home > Syllabi > 400 Level Courses > HISP 471PP-02 Laboratory in Materials Science

UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION

HISP 471 PP (02) Laboratory in Materials Science
Spring Semester 2006

Instructor: Evelyne Godfrey
Time: Thurs. 2:00-4:45 PM
Location: Combs Hall 012

Course Description:

The series of lectures in this course will provide an introduction to the chemistry, processing, and properties of the main inorganic materials that archaeologists, conservators, or museum curators are likely to encounter when studying early objects. The first half of the course will focus on silicate materials and pigments: ceramics, glass, faience, minerals, and smelting residues. The classes following Spring Break will introduce the metallurgy of lead, tin, copper, gold, silver, and iron. Throughout, materials science will be discussed in the context of the historical and archaeologically attested processes and applications, rather than modern engineering.

The course has a practical lab component in which exercises will include the production of copper and iron based pigments, and casting of small bronze ingots. Some of the experimental materials produced will be subjected to accelerated corrosion and burial in order to demonstrate how archaeological and historic materials deteriorate over time.

Course Objectives:

  • through both lectures and practical experience, gain a broad understanding of how early objects were made, and what they were made of
  • achieve proficiency in relevant scientific methods and lab procedures
  • produce a portfolio of experimental work
  • become familiar with the relevant subject literature

Required Course Texts:
Julian Henderson, (2000) The Science and Archaeology of Materials (Routledge)

Henry Hodges, (1989) Artifacts (Duckworth)

Course Assessment:

Description

Percentage of Final Grade

Date Due

Essay 1
Essay 2

20
20

23 February
6 April

Mid-term test

10

16 February

Portfolio of laboratory experiments

20

20 April

Practical Lab Exam

10

27 April

Final Exam

20

Tues. 2nd May

Grade System: A: 94-100; A-: 90-93; B+: 87-89; B: 83-86; B-: 80-82; C+: 77-79; C: 73-76; C-: 70-72; D+: 67-69; D: 60-66; F: 0-59.

N.B.: Late assignments will be marked down by ten (10) points for each day later than the beginning of class on the date due. All course assessment must be completed in order to pass the course.

Contact: My Office Hours are: Mon, Wed, Fri 2-3 PM and Tues/Thurs 11-12 AM, and by appointment. Room: Combs 121; Tel: 654-1312; E-mail: egodfrey@umw.edu

Portfolio: The portfolio should contain: a title page and table of contents, followed by numbered pages; lab reports for all of your experimental work, including Health and Safety assessments and MSDS; documentation, e.g. photographic, of the results of your lab work; your reflections on the experiment outcomes and any additional reading you’ve done on the topic, i.e. looking up comparative case-studies in the relevant journals.

Practical Lab Exam: This will involve identification of archaeological and experimental samples in the lab.

COURSE OUTLINE

19 January                  Introduction to archaeological materials
Lab 1: Health and Safety, lab equipment and procedures. Reading for next week: Hodges, Ch. 13

26 January                  Pigments; corrosion; iron minerals; Copper minerals
Lab 2: Producing metal-based pigments. Reading for next week: Henderson, Ch. 4, pp 109-142 and Hodges, Ch. 1 and Ch. 18

2 February                  Ceramic chemistry and petrography; Properties of ceramics
Lab 3: Ceramic fabrics. Reading for next week:  Henderson, Ch. 4, pp 142-207 and Hodges, Ch. 3

9 February                  Ceramic firing and surface treatments; Enamel and faience
Lab: Ceramic glazes. Reading for next week:  Henderson, Ch. 3 and Hodges, Chapters 2 & 3

16 February                Chemistry of glass; Early glassmaking recipes
            Mid-term test                     Reading for next week:  Henderson, Ch. 6 and Hodges, Chapters 7, 15 & 17

23 February                Stone objects; Chemistry of plaster, mortar, and cement

1st Essay Due

Lab: Stone, bricks, plaster, mortar. Reading for next week: Hodges Ch. 4

2 March                      Early smelting residues; Smithing and casting residues
Lab: Slag identification

SPRING BREAK

16 March                    Lost-wax and other casting techniques; patination of metals
Lab: Mould-making. Reading for next week: Hodges Ch. 6

23 March                    Gold and silver-making; lead & tin chemistry
Lab: Casting tin and pewter. Reading for next week:  Henderson, Ch. 5, pp 208-270 and Hodges Ch.  4

30 March                    Copper metallurgy
Lab: Casting copper and bronze ingots. Reading for next week: Henderson, Ch. 5, pp 270-296 and Hodges Ch. 5

6 April             Iron metallurgy; Early iron processing
Lab: Metallurgical sample preparation. Reading for next week: Hodges, Ch. 19       

2nd Essay Due                       

13 April                       Metallography
Lab: Metallurgical sample preparation, metallography. Reading for next week:   Henderson, Ch. 2 and Hodges, Ch. 16

20 April                       Non-Destructive Testing and Instrumental Analysis
Lab: scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Portfolio Due

27 April            Course review
Lab: Practical Lab Exam                                

2 May                         Final Exam: 3:30-6:00 PM