, perhaps for hundreds of years," said Alexandre Locquet, an adjunct professor in ECE and researcher at Georgia Tech-CNRS IRL 2958, a joint international research laboratory at the Georgia Tech-Lorraine campus in Metz, France."Clearly, approaches that access such information without damaging the object are of great interest to archaeologists.
The museum loaned the cross to Citrin's lab in hopes that the team could use imaging techniques to make the invisible visible. Citrin and his group specialize in non-destructive evaluation and develop techniques that allow for detailed examination of an object's hidden layers without changing or damaging its original form.
Using the processed images, Vacheret was able to identify multiple Latin words and phrases. He determined they were all part of the Pater Noster, commonly known as the Our Father or the Lord's Prayer. "In this case, we were able to check our work afterwards, but not all lead objects can be treated this way," Citrin said."Some objects are large, some must remain in situ, and some are just too delicate. We hope our work opens up the study of other lead objects that might also yield secrets lying underneath corrosion."to look beneath the surface of 17th-century paintings, elucidating paint layer structure and providing insights into techniques of master painters.