Cultural Heritage Applications with Synchrotrons - part II

by Kirsty Lawrence from the Cyprus Institute. The floor is yours, Kirsty. >> Thank you so much. Um, and um, it's a real pleasure to be here. Let me just get the presentation up for you. And then we go to the presentation mode. Okay. Right. Let me just um actually go to the very beginning. Okay. Can I just double check that you can see my slide in presentation mode and you can hear me? >> Not yet. The slide. We see your desktop I think. >> Ah okay. Let's stop sharing. on my computer it shows that it's um okay so let's try again wonderful >> thank you >> so thank you very much for uh having me and whatever time it is in your time zone um uh participants uh very happy to be here uh uh today with you and and happy that uh you have been able to join and I look forward to uh engaging questions uh at the end of this uh presentation. Uh so uh do uh chop down uh questions as we go along. And cultural heritage is of course something that we all know at least a little bit about. It is our common human heritage and um it's the synretron radiation applications that we will talk about today uh in terms of uh looking at what uh we can learn uh from uh the key questions uh as to our past um and how synchro and radiation facilities have a role to play in this but also vice versa. How cultural heritage research um can help in communicating um the important role uh that syncretrons play uh in uh our current world. A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. This is what Garvey said. Um and um the image there shows uh the Roman city of Gerash in Jordan where the sesame synretron uh is located. So heritage is really uh about uh grounding us uh and we'll look at a little bit um what cultural heritage is. uh then we move on to looking at the role of synretrons in cultural heritage research particularly with the examples of sesame and the African light source initiative and then we'll dive into looking at the specifics of synretron radiation techniques applied to cultural heritage questions some case studies and uh finally look at the importance in mentoring uh um of mentoring and teaching And all of these domains, these aspects I hope find resonance also with uh what you are engaged in um in your specific uh domains. Uh there are lot of touch points and lot of common issues um that um we um uh can discuss. So what's cultural heritage? It's an expression of the ways of uh living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation. And here's a list of uh aspects that it could include uh from a particular encyclopedia. Um cultural heritage often brings to mind artifacts, historical monuments and buildings as well as archaeological sites. However, the concept is even wider uh as you see there uh different kind of documents and so on towns, underwater heritage, natural environment and so on. But also intangible cultural heritage, oral traditions, performing arts, rituals and so on. So not just uh what we can touch uh whatever scale that is in but the intangible as well. So not only limited to material objects uh but uh also the intangible. Now um archaeologists of course uh often uh have access especially in the prehistoric context um to the tangible in its great majority uh and even through texts and such sources. We always need to exercise source critique when we try to uh access the intangible. Now why are syncret radiation approaches crucial for the study of cultural heritage? Some of this relates to the uh characteristics of synretinal radiation techniques non-destructive non-invasive or perhaps better put minimally destructive minimally invasive. uh some reversible changes perhaps structural to chemical imaging. So we have a really wide range of different types of t data and this is really critical when we look at cultural heritage um uh artifacts um and u samples which are often very heterogeneous and uh the questions are rather complex. Someone very wise put it very aptly. I think archaeological sciences is the application uh of all humans current knowledge and techniques to uh understanding all humans past knowledge techniques uh and uh lifeways. So here's some of the UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East region. Um and the color coding legend is in the corner there. Uh the red um points uh denote world heritage in danger. And why I put this here is just to bring home uh that uh for some uh sites for some remains of the past it's really uh a critical hour. So we need to use synretrons like sesame uh and other synretrons globally uh to uh explore the cultural heritage while we can. So uh here's uh um a number of such sites just to um show you the diversity uh of uh remains, monumental remains. Uh and in each of these sites of course we have a plethora uh of artifacts um in some cases documents uh traces uh of life uh and uh looking at those traces whether it is in Peripolis um Babylon Casaral Farid Petra Piblo or our own Hiroitia here in Cyprus uh is facilitated uh by use of new uh approaches um and uh in this case synchro radiation um approaches which are uh continuously evolving and being developed as you've heard during this um training school. Uh a number of other sites here just to uh showcase the diversity, the scale uh and so on from that particular region. And then moving on to the African continent with the same uh denotation uh in the uh legend uh there as to the sites uh and the red uh marked sites in in danger. The African light source initiative is uh particularly important uh for providing uh the continent uh with uh the data uh required. And here's some of those uh sites um to um showcase again the diversity of the type of sites um whether we're looking at landscapes, monuments, um uh remains um of um biological um uh nature um structures and so on. And here I will just flip through the references so that um uh we uh are uh in the good side uh of um things. So let's look at the role of synretrons in cultural heritage research. Uh Sesame African light source in particular. Interestingly um the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East is known popularly as the cradle of civilization. uh and um the African continent uh is um uh known uh popularly as the cradle of humankind. So both regions uh are rich in cultural and natural heritage and increasingly uh this connection between um cultural and natural heritage is uh being made in several different uh contexts. Now you uh already have heard quite a lot about sesame so I won't go into detail on this but what I did want to mention is uh that sesame opened its doors with research on cultural heritage uh first uh being time here's the current beam lines again you have uh already heard quite a lot about it and in the context of the African light source heritage uh is particularly also mentioned in terms of uh the potential for African science with light sources, paleontology and archaeology. It's a symbiotic relationship. Um it's a win-win. Synretron radiation uh techniques help to answer key questions about our past and synretron radiation enabled research on our past helps to communicate the importance of synretrons. engaging diverse and white audiences. And earlier today we heard um a wonderful talk by James Gillies uh on the importance of communication and cultural heritage uh resonates uh with different audiences, wide audiences from decision makers to stakeholders uh to uh future um uh generations as uh growing uh around uh us. So let's look at uh some of the details in terms of synrron radiation techniques for cultural heritage applications. There's a multiplicity of techniques as I already mentioned. Um there are different beam lines uh dedicated to different characterization techniques. Here's just a list to showcase the variation between uh different synretrons um worldwide as um shown here. And for example at ALS um here's um a um schematic representation uh showing uh different types of um beam lines as well as uh for sole synretron and the importance there is teamwork and communication between um the uh synretron radiation technique specialists and the cultural heritage specialists so that together as a team we can explore which key questions require which techniques. And I purposefully uh use the plural uh as very often we need a number of techniques to address questions. And of course I should mention here uh that uh the key thing uh as always uh in obtaining beam time at synretron facilities uh is to exhaust all other possibilities in the laboratory context. um showing uh very clearly in the beam time proposals that um synretron radiation is absolutely necessary for answering uh the particular key questions um at hand and even in that process it's really important to engage with the um beamline scientists. So core techniques that often appear um in the context of synchron radiation uh enabled approaches to cultural heritage and archaeology uh include microt infrared spectra microscopy, x-ray fluorescent spectroscopy as well as x-ray absorption fine structure and there are further techniques such as saxs xrd and and so on. Um there are many relevant beam lines worldwide. Uh here a publication from 2021 uh by Janonelli and uh others to uh um showcasing in table format the different um beam lines um used uh for uh cultural heritage. Sesame syncretron has four core techniques available for cultural heritage applications. infrared, XRF SAFS and um microCT SXCT. And this is a really wonderful context because uh then one can really explore uh different types of materials um uh with those key questions uh in mind ranging from pottery and ceramics uh to artifacts of unknown materials, plant remains, animal remains, human remains and uh so on. And uh synchron radiation on material remains from the past is best uh um employed when we really uh are using it to answer key questions about the past. Characterization is one thing, but we really need to have a context where uh it makes a difference uh to um uh produce those critical um results, that critical data that enables us to explore key questions. uh whether it is about um manufacturing um uh techniques, degradation, preservation, um aspects of uh human population variation in terms of um for example uh dental development and so on and so forth. So some of those um types of context of uh use uh are shown in the slide uh under specific uh different types of materials. Let's look at SXCT or computed tomography microCT um with synretron source. Uh so um this of course uh provides data on structural imaging and we can uh explore um uh aspects uh from pathologies uh uh in um animal and human uh remains um virtual hisystologology all the way to aspects of manufacturing degradation and preservation in different types of materials. Um a range of sophisticated imaging techniques have been developed in the recent years both in the lab and synretron contexts and and uh in other transnational facilities. Um and uh synretron sources have several advantages as high flux brilliance and temporal and spatial coherence and development of high resolution detectors has made it possible to implement X-ray radiography, microcomputed tomography and phase contrast tomography for cultural heritage research. And um here's some of those studies. I will go uh through these uh relatively rapidly so we have time uh for some discussion and questions at the end. Um for example tooth cementum annulation uh is used by anthropologists to decipher age at death and stress periods based on yearly deposit incremental lines um in uh uh the tooth cementum. Uh and in this case um ID19 was used at ESRF uh by the group referenced in the bottom right corner. Um and um here a little bit of more detail uh showing the cementum the outer part there and the dentine. Um uh another entirely different context uh of application uh within the context of cultural heritage is this violin a historical violin and uh it's um the um synretron approach in terms of SXCT microCT analysis allowed in identification of the internal wood grain pattern uh unique uh in each instrument. And this is particularly important in terms of verification uh of authenticity um and in the context uh of um uh protection against loss, forgery and uh so on. This uh work uh took place atra. Um here another study uh historical architecture in Korea wood identification. So um virtual hisystologology of um uh wood from a historical uh building. Um and uh this work took place uh at spring 8 in Japan. Um imaging of the wood samples at high resolution um and uh this enabled the um wood identification. Textiles can also be studied as in this study relating to material from Italy. Um and um there particular copper corrosion phases um that researchers looked at in this case. Differentiating between whale bone and terrestrial animal bone was the focus of this particular uh work by far at al uh and uh it's very important um differentiation uh in the context um of understanding the uh ancient paleolithic uh lifeways plant remains um uh particularly uh in terms of uh seeds and and looking at uh in this case the Indian uh horse gram uh the domestication um so looking at the thinning uh uh of the seat coat uh and that is important uh in the context of exploring domestication which is of course one of the key questions that archaeologists um have been focusing on for uh uh more than 100 years in different regions of the world. Microossils is another um uh type of uh remain uh that has been uh looked at um uh showcased here. Let's look at infrared next. So infrared can be used to characterize um uh compounds. Uh and here the example comes from Electra looking at paintings, looking at identification of binding media um as uh well as um identification of different compounds and their localization, pigments and the technology used to prepare them. Um alteration and corrosion layers. Uh identification of organic coatings to protect um silver the metal foil. gluing layers and the reaction compounds um uh in all the pieces and so on and so forth. There are many many studies in this domain. Infrared can also be successfully applied to um identification of pigments in varnish layers of uh musical instruments um determination of adhesives used on fibers or of traditional costumes and so on and so forth. Um and here a few other uh case studies um for your information with references to to follow up. Infrared can also be um used to look at human remains and and uh evaluating long-term alterations um both in terms of the the human animal as well as um uh nonhuman animal remains. And this is critical in terms of uh the process of selecting samples for often destructive analyses um uh that give key information uh on isotopes um and so on and so forth. X-ray fluoresence um syncrit radiation and micro XRF enables mapping of localization of metals um whether it's in material culture human bioarchchaeology animal remains or plant remains and I'm particularly interested myself uh in human heavy metal exposure in the past uh the exosome um has become more and more important in the EU context as well with new U funding calls coming up um on this domain both um uh in the the present uh context and uh features very very high up in the challenges of the World Health Organization as well. So um that also showcases the relevance of uh uh archaeological um research enabled um by syncretron uh radiation facilities to our uh current challenges in our current world. Here's another type of uh example manuscripts and particularly a palmessed context uh where um uh a uh text uh that uh the original text on on a uh document uh not visible currently otherwise uh has been coaxed out with um the use of uh synretron radiation XRF um uh in this case an underlying all the lay of writing um uh was discovered the combination of different synchro radiation techniques is very powerful um whether we're looking at as in this case on glass beads from Thailand uh looking at chemical speciation um uh following uh the um observation of um uh chemical elements uh or papyrie as in this case uh where we have multiple laboratory techniques as well as synchron techniques combined um into a really powerful toolkit uh to uh look at uh an ancient manuscript. Let's look at human metal exposure in the past in a couple of contexts. And again you can follow up in in more detail uh if you uh wish. So um as mentioned uh synchron radiation micro xrf enables um mapping of the localization of metals found in cross-sections of for example human hair uh which uh as you um uh may appreciate um having kind of a reference sample in in in on your head um is um uh very very small in size and uh this type of data really cannot be obtained in the laboratory. Uh so um what is important when we're looking at archaeological and cultural heritage material is to appreciate uh what uh is biogenic um what was uh ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin and then made its way to uh ancient human tissues. Um biogenic u from the diiogenetic. Uh, of course these remains have been um so so to say sitting in the soil in some cases for thousands of years. Um, and we need to account for diiogenetic changes. Uh, and therefore uh it is really important not only to be able to identify whether um there is um metal element content but also to be able to localize and to explore. in this way um uh the uh question of whether or not we're looking at biogenic uh or diiogenetic changes. So in this case um the uh site of Shahut which translates as the burnt city due to um the um traces of burning in some of the monumental architecture there uh from uh the present day Iran. I was able to obtain uh some uh human hair uh from this ancient site um over 5,000 years old. Uh and uh this site is uh located along ancient trade routes um part of what we uh later term as um silk roots. And it was a very very large um urban uh site uh with trade uh in precious metals um uh mining and manufacturing activity uh including copper mining and so on. And so this slide showcases some of the approach um uh together with the ancient uh hair samples. Um, I was able to explore modern hair controls uh at the ESRF, the European Synretron Radiation uh facility um and uh map uh the um uh elements present at the um ID21 uh beam line and I would like to acknowledge um the uh facility as well as its staff uh for uh this very fruitful collaboration. And um we can uh use certain uh elemental maps to identify uh different structures uh in uh the hair, the cortex, the cuticle and so on. Um and uh we can look at the copper levels. Um and one of the outcomes here um uh will be shown in the next slides. the importance uh of this data uh and the key question uh uh really that I'm interested in here is uh understanding human health in periods and sites with intensive metallergical activity and methology is of course so very important for our human history uh and uh human past that we have even named the archaeological periods according to metals you're all familiar with copper age the calcolithic the bronze age the iron age I I am sure so um uh looking at these uh great changes and innovations and the technology uh and exploring the potential health consequences uh in this context exploring the potential sources of exposure in the past and again referring to uh the current interest in the human exposome lifetime um and providing uh the depth in the lung dur if you like um in the deep past um on uh the story of uh human uh metal exposure. And of course there are different routes through which um um unwanted um metals can find their way um uh to the human body uh whether we are looking at inhalation, ingestion or or absorption uh through skin. So in the top uh right corner you see uh the uh different samples. Um and uh the uh one with the uh most red there is a young female 18 to 20 years old at death or rather the hair and cross-section uh from this young female. one of those analyzed uh and uh the result uh from this sample uh is really significantly higher. Uh all individuals on the site seem to have some background exposure, but particularly uh this individual and um uh of course we have multiple different uh um interpretations and uh I'll let you ponder on what you would find uh most um sophisticated, logical or simple uh all criteria when we're looking at our interpretations. um whether uh uh this um uh young female may have um engaged in uh some uh specific activity that others did not. Um perhaps in metalwork, perhaps um using uh cosmetics uh that uh um contained high levels uh of copper or perhaps as we know on the site engaging in craft work um using copper based uh pigments um so on and so forth. probably less likely that it would have been legacy soil contamination or coming through food stuffs and water as uh this could have been more um widespread um as to all the other individuals. So we have differential exposure here which is really very interesting. I'll uh in the interest of time skip uh to um the u um u main uh um results here and outcomes of the study. Um and um it is of utmost importance here uh the ability uh um uh when using synchron radiation micro xrf to map the localization uh of in this case copper and the ability also of course to uh do uh repeats so that we can be uh confident um relatively confident in our results. So uh another study this time at the sesame synretron uh looking at uh material from the same site but different uh remains bones and teeth uh in this case uh conducted at the XRF um beam line of sesame and I would like to again thanks thank the facility and uh the staff there particularly me uh for uh his role uh in this uh study. And of course in um other context Latifah Khan who both have delivered of course um lectures and training uh within uh this um training school. Uh so here's some uh relevant images um showing uh the vast site u with its enormous cemeteries with um many tens of thousands of burials. Some of the uh contained Percy, I cannot hear you. >> You're muted, >> Kirsty. >> Yes, I can. I can. Um, okay. Can you hear me now? >> Yes. Yes. >> Yeah. Uh, some some message appeared on the um screen uh mentioning that I was muted. Um but uh uh I tried to unmute but I don't know what the clip was. You can hear well now. >> Yes. Wonderful. So what I was just to maybe we go back to the previous uh slide. Um so some images from the relevant beam line at Sesame. uh and uh what I was uh mentioning there is we have uh uh this context of of uh direct relevance for uh health human health today. Heavy metal toxicity is one of the key challenges um highlighted also on the World Health Organization uh materials websites um um and uh key challenges um and of course um in the European Union um uh Horizon Europe upcoming calls the human exposome uh in a wider sense is uh also one of the um uh thematic folky under specific uh destinations uh under health. So um here just um uh one of the illustrations how heavy metal toxicity affects um uh uh humans in the context of uh reproduction, abnormal growth and development is unfortunately the result uh often. So here's some of the um uh data from uh the uh study. Um and uh I would uh just um um um stress again that these type of studies uh to take place. It is very important to engage as a team uh with different experts with people uh from different backgrounds uh to explore uh new ways of looking at uh old questions or um uh synrron radiation techniques opening up entirely new questions for exploration. And here importance of mentoring and teaching is of course um paramount. So here's some of the examples from what we've been doing here in Cyprus at the Cypress Institute where I am based. um running a post-graduate level course on synchron radiation enabled approaches um to uh heritage sciences and and archaeology uh with cutting edge science uh in lectures given by sesame beamline scientists and um uh the assessment within the course is based on an actual beam time proposal draft that the students participating in the course uh do and and to my great delight. Many of them submitted those drafts uh to uh in their final format after feedback um uh to Sesame Synretron and were indeed able uh to um obtain beam time of their own and this all takes place within the master's degree program on archaeological science at the Cypress Institute. Uh, of course we mentor also students from other domains across um, uh, different science domains um, uh, with material samples. PhD student supervision also takes place uh, in this context. um and um I'm very happy to uh um be able to state that the first posttock uh now uh who has gone through this route uh is at Sesame at the infrared beam line uh Yugauchi who completed her PhD um at the Cyprus Institute and of course mentoring takes place in multiple contexts including uh getting involved in beam times of senior researchers So uh student and posttock participation in beam times at synretron facilities and this is one way that we have found at the Cypress Institute in uh our collaboration with Sesame and uh other synretrons um that works very well. Here's some images from a training school um both in person as well as online uh efforts. Um and of course there is mentoring within projects and these type of projects uh range uh far and wide uh from archaeologically and cultural heritage focused projects and in this case this million euro project was funded uh within the domain of tourism. So thinking out of the box is uh uh often uh uh helpful when we try to look uh for opportunities. In this particular project um I was able to um mentor uh double digits of of people um who have then uh gone on to u posttop work um at uh synchro facilities such as electra. Now um feeder facilities such as the microCT walk-in hatch uh microCT facility at the Cypress Institute uh Biomera platform can also provide mentoring opportunities. Uh and uh new uh this year is the new infrastructure um involving labas and XRF integrated into the microCT as well as some added uh face contrast uh capabilities. And I'd like to encourage uh any of you who are interested um in u mentoring opportunities and connecting with synretrons including sesame to get in touch whether or not you're in um their cultural heritage domain or any other domain ranging from health to material sciences because of course uh the structural imaging and chemical imaging uh capabilities um uh are applicable and uh very wide variety of domains. Here's another illustration. Commalysis is focusing on correlated multimodal imaging and life sciences. Uh and within this cost action and its followup um comely globe funded by the CZI um initiative um uh further um mentoring uh took place uh and we're currently planning follow-ups. So new projects are of course on the way. So if you are interested in past uh uh or present human metal exposure uh please do get in touch. Um contemporary samples um are of course of interest when we look at the human exposome um in uh a wider context and again stressing the relevance of uh the questions that we ask uh in the context of the past uh to our present uh world uh including to the UN sustainable development goals. Um, and as a take-home message, I'd just like to highlight how synchro radiation techniques are very versatile tools indeed for exploring key questions in cultural heritage. And it all comes down to teamwork, working together. Uh, and uh, you uh, uh, as participants in this training school are in a key position uh, in your institutions, in your future careers. uh as to act as multipliers uh in your uh research domains uh now and in the future uh to take up the opportunities u that synchron radiation facilities uh provide. So let's work together and I look forward to your questions. Thank you for your attention. >> Thank you for this really exciting talk. Very very interesting. Uh we've got a few questions. Maybe I can start and then uh we see how they develop. Um from Zahed, many CH artifacts cannot be transported to a synretron. What portable or beamline to sample solutions are being developed to bring synretron techniques to museums or archaeological sites? Thank you very much for this important question. This is of course uh one of the challenges when we're looking at very large uh monuments and and um large artifacts indeed. Um there are multiple uh challenges in terms of the the transportation uh whether it's logistical or permits and and so on and so forth. Uh syncretron techniques of course by definition require syncretron source. So uh at the moment uh I'm afraid what what we need to do uh in in cases like this is sampling. It is not ideal. Uh but there are of course multiple other techniques and that is what I didn't have time to go into but uh your question uh provides a perfect chance to uh refer to it. uh synchron radiation techniques are of course only one uh part of the plethora of approaches uh in our toolkit uh as uh experts when we start looking at uh materials. So when we can we answer the questions using techniques in the field um instrumentation that is portable and uh particularly uh in in our case at the Cypress Institute we have uh developed multiple uh sets of instrumentation and approaches all the way from uh handheld uh to portable in the sense of you can hoist it into a small car or a big bigger car or or indeed um uh a uh a laboratory on wheels, a large truck with a payload of of instrumentation and in some cases we are also airborne. Uh we have um uh unmanned uh aerial uh vehicles if you if you like. So so it's a really wide ranging question and and one of the things that is really exciting of course at the moment is is looking at uh what um uh other developments there are. For example, in the domain of muons, I had the chance to visit Japan uh together uh with my uh colleagues um from KK recently. Um and uh there are very very uh exciting developments um that we can use both in the field and in the transnational and national facilities. I hope that answers your question. >> Thank you. And another question from Zahit. uh for natural UNESCO sites like ecosystems or fossil beds, what synretron techniques could be used and how do they differ from those used for cultural sites? Actually the range of techniques is the same. Um when we are looking at structural imaging or chemical imaging, we are looking at the a range of uh uh techniques from SXCT microCT to to XRF u FTIR and and so on. Depending from our question, if we're looking at organic compounds for example, we'd be looking at FTIR. If we're looking at uh the structure, the shape, uh we might want to use SXCT. And I think your question really brings uh to the four uh the importance of um learning from each other from different disciplines. Um uh I uh always say that archaeologists have to be good foragers. Uh good uh gatherers uh in the sense of gatherer hunters. uh we are we are gathering hunting for uh the um uh new applicable techniques and so are uh our colleagues uh in uh paleontology uh and um it's also very interesting in this context to highlight that for example uh one of the um uh uh key SXCT uh experts at ESRF Paul Taffero is originally from the domain of paleontology. So uh I I think there are there are really uh very interesting uh opportunities for teamwork and synergies and and uh discussing together um the um possibilities of application and I think that's also very energizing. So I'd really encourage you to to uh engage in that and and feel free to contact me also for for further exploration. >> Thanks. A question from Sonia. Is the interest in CH skewed by the distribution of power and wealth in the world? Are we at European facilities for example excessively interested in measuring European CH? That's a really interesting question Sonia. Thank you for that. And uh one of the things um uh of course uh when we look at the politics and power and uh heritage and identities um these are really uh domains uh where uh we often also get into contested situations. uh and uh I would also like to draw on uh the social sciences the humanities in terms of when we look at um cultural heritage what constitutes heritage. I had a few slides in the beginning but I didn't go into the anthropological understandings and variation diver diversity in terms of understanding what is heritage and how we define it and how particular um monuments for example get into the national heritage listings whatever they are called as I mentioned I was in Japan um recently um and have been of course working in the Europe European Union context um uh in Cyprus and and elsewhere in the UK where I used to be uh in Scotland uh England uh before coming here and originally being from Finland uh there are interesting differences in terms of how we see heritage and how we see its preservation. If you look at and look into and I won't go into detail but look into how in Japan the historical castles uh are preserved, treated and so on and uh how this uh may sometimes leave us puzzled uh in a um European context where we think that a moment frozen in time is what we want to preserve in terms of a castle or an artifact. uh whereas in Japan the view is uh quite a bit different. So I' I'd encourage you to look into this um as well as then of course there is um a number of uh key texts um and I can um uh if you contact me I can I can pass you some further reading on heritage uh in the context of politics. It's a really key domain and and huge domain and we need to be very conscious and aware of the uh historical um uh specificities and the power plays um and and so on. I hope that goes some way of answering your very complex question. I I I I think this actually worthy of of a thesis of its own, a doctoral thesis. The question from Dr. Shirin Ector, I'm not sure I understood fully. I will read it. If you could let us know whether your laboratory is using CRM for human hair analysis. I don't know if if you're able to whoever asked the question to to explain a little bit more maybe. Um um by or or uh writing a bit more no >> well I invited to unmute but okay no response may >> maybe some text perhaps we wait for some some further information on the chat if if I may suggest >> yes >> okay any further questions questions in the meanwhile when you're checking of course in in terms of hair analysis we exhaust all techniques that we can in the lab as I mentioned um uh earlier uh within the context of particular questions of course uh in archaeology there's if if one gets into the business of characterization fully it will never end. So we really need to focus on on key questions and what we want to find out uh in a particular context uh whether we are looking at parasites in a context of irrigation agriculture uh any particular increases or whether we're looking at human heavy metal exposure or looking at um uh let's say growth disturbances in childhood uh comparing different populations and and using synretron radiation to to uh do virtual hisystologology to avoid the necessity of of cutting the precious uh samples as as previously uh had to be done. So destructive analysis in that sense and so on and so forth. >> Quick question from me. Maybe if you could give us a few steps for a user who is not familiar with synretatron and who thinks it's the best chance to do the research there. What should be done? I mean uh what are the steps? Who to contact? What is what to learn? What to get prepared for? >> That's a wonderful question Natasa and I would even even hazard to say that this uh perhaps can be answered also uh more generally for all domains. If you are working in in a context um that that you suspect you think that synchron radiation could provide some critical answers but you don't know um how to go about it. First of all um you're not alone. There are this is a very well-known situation. So what we're doing in many different contexts and now most recently in the context of the Sunstone EU project. So um I will put it later on in the chat. Sunstone. Uh you can uh contact Sunstone. You can look at these projects um and get trained. We can put you in touch uh with beamline scientist. We can put you in touch with mentors. You can contact me so that I um uh put you in touch with the with the right people. We have people who are helping you all the way from ideiation developing your idea of what uh you would like to do exploring and we call that some of these workshops the crazy ideas workshops and this is something that the the PSI in Switzerland also did when they set up the Xfell uh facility there. Uh so um uh it's um it's basically about uh um freely explore exploring uh uh as a team of different experts with different backgrounds uh what could be done and then you get to the research design and contacting the beamline scientist for feasibility uh and and so on and so forth. There's a lot of help in um writing um beam time proposals. Another thing that I would like to mention is there's a lot of recorded um uh talks uh and presentations also online. So you can look at those and for example from Sesame website um you can check out the Sesame user committee the SUK and each um uh committee member has a specialization domain whether it's health or material sciences or archaeology um and uh it has been agreed that um each representative they represent sesame members um such as Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus and so on but They also are very happy to hear from you as potential future users uh as according to their domain to give you advice. And another aspect that was mentioned I think by Simon and Zakazi earlier during the training um uh is the LAMP program. So uh the LAMP program gives funding for faculty student teams the so-called fast teams uh to uh go to synretron facilities for two months um and to explore what could be done. So really an intensive mentoring period. Another thing you can do is you can contact us and come and visit in the Cyprus Institute at the feeder facilities and have a look at um for example in the context of an Arasmus uh what uh um uh could be done at synretron facility and uh what preparatory work would need to be done at uh laboratory facilities, feeder facilities uh such as the the ones that we have in Cyprus. Um but yes, please please uh you know feel free any of you participants um uh to uh uh contact me for for uh further links to to resources. There's also a survey uh that I conducted for the international atomic energy agency uh on resources uh online uh available for cultural heritage and synretron radiation domain. So there's a lot that um that can can help you in the way, but there's no beating a good conversation either online or over coffee. So don't feel that you have to read absolutely everything on these resources. No one expects that. Um be brave. Contact us. Look at the training workshops online or in person that we are organizing under the Sunstone EU project. I'll send a link um in the chat and and get in touch and and that's how one of the most brilliant journeys in many people's career started having a simple conversation in a corridor or over a coffee. So don't be shy, get in touch. Thank you for this very encouraging answer. Um now we've got a few questions. I think we have time for one quick answer. Um, Milos Voisich is thanking as many others appreciate the presentation and he's asking about any latest insider news on the wonderful and thrilling site of Coia. I mispronounced it probably >> Hiroitia. Hiroitia. That was wonderful. >> I I I understood exactly what you meant, Natasa. So compliments on >> uh it's it's a yeah it's a bit of a mouthful but uh yes I think the latest news was that the excavators of Hiroitia were presented with a Cypress archaeology award by the Republic of Cypress president um uh uh uh about 10 days ago. So uh there are many many uh um wonderful developments there ranging from um augmented reality uh experiences as well. That's one of the things that a colleague of mine here at the Cyprus Institute uh is is busy with uh as well as uh the studies of uh human remains uh from Hiroitia uh that I've conducted and and many French uh colleagues have also been busy with um in the past. So it's a longstanding site and many more news to come. So thanks for that question and and certainly synretron radiation is is applicable also on on that site. So thank you and and do come to user community building uh events and find out how you can uh use synretrons wherever you are online or in person. It's a family and we wait for you. >> Thank you so much for this wonderful presentation and and the answers. If you have the time, if you can uh answer questions in chat or maybe you allow participants to contact you by email, we'd be very grateful. >> Absolutely. >> I'll pop my email there and I will go through as many questions I possibly can before my next meeting. And if your question doesn't get answered in the chat, my email is there. So, please do get in touch. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you very much for having me. Yes.