In my master’s thesis, I focus on the methodology applied in the micro-excavation of archaeological urns, carried out with the aid of computed tomography (CT) imaging. This approach combines a non-destructive analytical method, computed tomography (CT) with a destructive procedure, namely archaeological (micro)excavation.
The central subject of this study is the prehistoric urn grave 137, discovered during excavations in 2005 at Kapiteljska njiva in Novo mesto. The urn from this grave, together with its complete fill, was scanned using a CT scanner at the University Medical Centre in Ljubljana. The obtained scans served as the basis for planning and conducting the micro-excavations. During the excavation of the urn, observations were systematically compared with the CT images, while both consistencies and discrepancies between the scans and the actual physical condition of the remains were recorded. An important part of the research also involves post-excavation procedures, including flotation and wet sieving, drying and examination of samples, measurement of radiological density for selected objects, and related analyses.
Computed tomography is an analytical method that enables non-destructive insight into the interior of individual objects or finds, or into entire contexts, as in this case of the prehistoric urn with its complete fill. Its non-destructive nature allows the preservation of the object for future analyses, which are continually being refined and expanded, while new techniques are being developed that may yield more precise results.
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