Work

Parchment damage assessment: a review of methods, multimodal workflows, and a transparent reporting framework

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Parchment damage assessment underpins the care of heritage materials, yet practice lacks shared standards for method choice and reporting measurement context. We reviewed 113 studies that applied visual, imaging, spectroscopy, thermal, X-ray, and chemical/biological approaches. There is variability in how techniques are described, and use of terms like ‘invasive’/‘destructive’ without definition obscures differences in contact, restraint, sampling and exposure. We propose a reporting framework linking acquisition parameters to measurement checks.

Source: npj Heritage Science

DOI: 10.1038/s40494-026-02899-5

Authors: Christina D. Nguyen, Stephanie J. Lahey, Alexandra Gillespie, Seamus Ross, Laurent Bozec

Institution: University of Toronto

Language: English

Topic: Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis

Subfield: Archeology

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Funders: University of Toronto, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

OpenAlex ID: W7203757096