Gemmology

The range of services offered by the Centre for Gemmology, Petroarchaeology and Technical Petrography includes, among others, identification studies of historical and contemporary polished jewellery stones. These determinations are carried out by traditional methods and through a modern, portable gemmological spectrometer that registers Raman and photoluminescence absorption spectra of precious and decorative stones.

Petroarcheology research is most often the petrographic microscopic analysis of stone monuments and historical pottery. The resulting enlarged background images of the pottery are digitally documented to reconstruct the pottery workshop and production technology. Regional analyses of the places of origin of the raw material used in their production are also conducted for stone monuments.

Other research work in technical petrography includes, among others: the determination of optical characteristics of various wastes (e.g., sinter, slag, etc.) for environmental protection, petrographic analysis of raw materials (e.g., fine architectural elements, their binders and paint coatings, etc.) for conservation and reconstruction of monuments, and others.