Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques represent promising analytical opportunities for the study of material cultural heritage in many respects. However, compared to techniques such as microscopy, endoscopy or various computed tomographic (CT) methods, their range of applications has so far only been rudimentarily exploited. Based on the possibility of a unique transdisciplinary and regional alliance in the U Bremen Research Alliance between the German Maritime Museum (DSM), Fraunhofer MEVIS and the MAPEX Center for Materials and Processes at the University of Bremen, the planned conference on December 7 and 8, 2023, is dedicated to the state of research in the field of complementary methods and technologies for the indexing and conservation of historical and archaeological objects.
Together with international experts from the fields of archaeology, cultural heritage research, materials research and physics of imaging, the epistemic possibilities of MR methods and their complementarity to conventional methods for conservation monitoring and cultural heritage research will be discussed. The starting point for this is the multifaceted and always interdisciplinary material research around the so-called Bremer Kogge as a central object of the DSM. The researchers are primarily interested in new insights into the proper conservation of material cultural heritage through an innovative study of conservation methods. Furthermore, new insights into the technical applicability of MR methods for various biomaterials and the analysis of conservational substances will be addressed. Finally, new research questions should arise from the identification of biological materialities in cultural artifacts for historical and cultural science approaches.