Academic thesis

Elisa Burghard: Effects of flies´excrements on wall paintings back

Language: Original   -   Translation
Overview:  
 
Abstract: The following Master´s Thesis is based on my undergraduate thesis “The Impact of Insects on the Surfaces of Heritage Sites – Laboratory experiments with the Excrements of Flies” (2009). It consisted of a laboratory experiment in which dummies fitted with different painting techniques were evaluated in light of the damage inflicted upon them by flies.
The thesis will determine whether the damaging effect of the flies´excrements as observed in the experiment correlate with what one encounters in the field. This was accomplished by examining wall paintings located in five buildings. The excretions were studied and documented in both print and image. The taken samples were analyzed to the contents of the painting´s bindes by chemical methods and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), cross-sections were prepared and examined with both a light microscope as well as either a scanning electron microscope (SEM) or an energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX). These techniques were utilized in order to determine excrement´s effects on the wall painting´s layers. Flies´s bodies in the buildings were collected as samples to determine whether or not microbiological growth could be found and analyzed. Lastly a glossary of damage types was created using examples from both the laboratory experiment as well as the field work.

Top

Details:
  • academic institution: HAWK Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaft und Kunst Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen
  • kind of theses:  Masterarbeit
  • main Tutor:  Prof. Dr. Karin Petersen
  • assistant Tutor:  Prof. Dr. Nicole Riedl
  • date:  2012
  • Language:  German

The Hornemann Institute offers only the information displayed here. For further information or copies of academic work, please contact the author or - if there is no contact provided - the secretariats of the respective faculties.