Hyperspectral sensors for the characterization of cultural heritage surfaces

The characterization of artistic and historical surfaces in a wide, fast, low expense and non-invasive way is a necessity for the conservation of these cultural assets. Hyperspectral sensors having bands in the Visible-Near Infrared and Short Wave Infrared (VNIR-SWIR) regions are commonly used for determining the characteristics and properties of many materials (such as soils, minerals, rocks, water, vegetation) because of their ability to provide information in a fast and non-destructive way. Among the existing VNIR-SWIR techniques, Field Spectroscopy and Imaging Spectroscopy (remote sensing) play a crucial role in the characterization of different kinds of surfaces. In this work, the potentialities of hyperspectral sensors (working in the 0.35÷2.5??m) for cultural heritage applications are discussed. The attention is focused both on field spectroscopy, as method for accurate characterization of small, confined and highly heterogeneous surfaces, and on imaging spectrometry obtained through field sensors. Few case studies, where both techniques were employed, are also reported.