Pigment Analysis • Ceramic Petrology • Geoarchaeology • Geochronology
As a member of The Pigmentum Project I am working with colleagues to develop a rigorous database of archaeological and historical artists' pigments in terms of their optical, physical and chemical properties. The project is also examining traditional techniques of pigment manufacture, the reactions of pigments with media and the atmosphere and the range of use of materials. My personal contributions are towards characterising the optical properties of mineral, synthetic and organic pigments using polarising light microscopy.
In addition to this ongoig work, current projects involve the analysis and sourcing of Roman pigments from Pompeii and the analysis of Grand Tour souvenir paintings depicting views of Vesuvius in Eruption (The Johnston-Lavis Collection).Publications
Eastaugh, N., Walsh, V., Chaplin, T. & Siddall, R., 2004, The Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments., Elsevier - Butterworth Heinemen. 499 pp.
Eastaugh, N., Walsh, V., Chaplin, T. & Siddall, R., 2004, The Pigment Compendium: Optical Microscopy of Historical Pigments., Elsevier - Butterworth Heinemen. 416 pp.Walsh, V. W., Siddall, R., Eastaugh, N. & Chaplin, T., 2004, Pigments from Pompeii: towards a standard for the research of Roman pigments. In press
Eastaugh, N., Walsh, V., Siddall, R., Chaplin, T. & Herman, H., 2002, Towards a taxonomy of pigments, in Van Griecken, R., Janssens, K., Van't Dack, L & Meersman, G. (Eds), Proceedings, Art 2002; 7 th International Conference on Nondestructive Testing and Microanalysis for the Diagnostics and Conservation of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage., University of Antwerp.
Eastaugh, N., Walsh, V., Siddall, R., Chaplin, T. & Herman, H., 2002, Development of protocols for a large analytical database project of historic pigments, Conservation Science 2002, papers from the Conference held in Edinburgh, Scotland, 22nd-24th May 2002 , J. Townsend et al. (Eds.), Archetype Publications, 271-278.
The petrological analysis of lime cements, mortars & concretes
My research in this field is predominantly involved with the petrological analysis of Roman - Mediaeval compounds, with a particular interest in hydraulic limes using crushed, fired potsherds as a pozzolanic additive. These materials were primarily used in water-bearing structures, primarily aqueducts, cisterns, fountains and bath-houses as well as providing added durabilty to floors and (painted) wall plasters.
My current projects are examining the recipes, stratigraphy, and therefore architectural phasing of hydraulic lime mortars used in the construction of 'Hellenistic' to Roman period fountain houses at Ancient Corinth and on the 13th Century Cosmatesque Pavement at Westminster Abbey.
Publications
Siddall, R., 2005, Hydraulic Mortars in Antiquity: Analyses from Fountains in Ancient Corinth. In Mattusch, C. C. (Ed.), Proceedings of the XVIth International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Boston 2003., Oxbow Books . In press.
Siddall, R., 2000, The use of volcaniclastic material in Roman hydraulic concretes: a brief review. in McGuire, B., Griffiths, D. & Stewart, I. (eds) The Archaeology of Geological Catastrophes. Geological Society , London, Special Publications 171, 339-344.
Siddall, R., Lime cements and their derivatives: the site of Ancient Corinth. Excavation Techniques and Treatment of Finds. Wiener Laboratory. in press.
Siddall, R., 1997, Lime cements, mortars and concretes; the site of Ancient Corinth, Northern Peloponnese, Greece. 1. Preliminary results from morphologic and petrographic analyses. Wiener Laboratory Internal Report , American School of Classical Studies, Athens.
I have been working on a variety of projects which are best described under the general title of geoarchaeology, primarily using geological, petrographic and geophysical survey techniques. These include the analysis and sourcing of stone artefacts and also involvement with archaeological survey projects within Greece. An ongoing research theme is, however, centred in Ancient Corinth, Peloponnese, Greece examining the site in terms of its landscape evolution and the available natural resources, which will appear soon as a guidebook.
Publications
Siddall, R., The Geology of Corinth: An ancient city, natural disasters and material resources . American School of Classical Studies, Athens. Book in prep.
Geochronology, Geochemistry and Geology
I began my career as a geologists, working in the Fission Track Research Laboratory at UCL, looking at the thermal response to the opening of the North Atlantic around the onshore Bay of Biscay. Other fission track work continued this theme to look at the evolution of the Variscan Massifs of Western Europe from Cornwall to the Massif Central.
The crystallographic structure of apatite was also an important aspect of my research, looking at the effects of substitution of the Cl, F and OH anions into the structure using Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) microspectroscopy.
Publications
Jones, E. J. W., Siddall, R., Thirlwall, M. F., Chroston, P. N. and Lloyd, A. J., 1993, Anton Dohrn Seamount and the evolution of the Rockall Trough. Oceanologica Acta , 17, 237-247.
Siddall, R. and Hurford, A. J., 1998, Semi-quantitative determination of apatite anion composition for fission-track analysis using infra-red microspectroscopy. Chemical Geology :, 150, 181-190
Siddall, R. and Lewis, C. L. E., 1991, Fission track research at the 7th International Conference on Geochronology, Cosmochronology and Isotope Geology. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements ., 18, 427-429.
Siddall, R, 2002, The composition of the Earth: Rocks and Minerals., in: Geology, Edited by De Vivo, Benedetto, Grasemann, Bernhard and Stüwe, Kurt., Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) Developed under the auspices of the UNESCO, EOLSS Publishers, Oxford, UK
Research • Teaching • Downloads • Links
Department of Earth Sciences, UCL