The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage opens their Culture Heritage Analysis Information Center(CHAIC) on 4.15(Thurs) at 10:00 a.m.

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Culture Heritage Analysis Information Center(hereafter CHAIC) of the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage(NRICH,Director General Ji Byongmok) in Daejeon will have its grand opening onthe 15^th April and hold the opening ceremony at 10:00 a.m.  The center aims to store and manage thediverse artifact samples collected from home and abroad as well as to conductsystematic analysis research. 

CHAIC aims to apply Radiocarbon Dating Laboratory Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) by 2021 along with Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) by 2022.  Based on the results, the center plans to develop a systematic dating analysis by 2025. With afore mentioned analytical instrumentations, CHAIC became the first of its kind to managepretreatment, analysis, storage and to create databases of the artifact samplesat a government level.

• Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy(AMS): Analytic instrument using the mass differences to examine infinitesimal isotopewhich is used to determine radiocarbon dating of the cultural heritage.

• Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL): An instrument determining mineral’s last exposure to the sunlight by usinglight in order to trace the date of the earthenware and the roof tiles.

Also,as the research on ancient biomolecules (human and animal skeletal remains)became possible, a deeper scientific research on the past history became possible which lead to a various scientific examination regarding stone, earthenware, paper, textile and wood.  To this end, CHAIC is able to conduct various sample analysis upon the request of theCultural Heritage Administration (CHA) and the local governments.

The main researches of CHAIC are as follows: ▲radiocarbon dating of organic materials and dating of earthenware, roof tiles, soil and etc. (1F), ▲ determining the age, gender and height of the human skeletal through analytic research and conservation(2F), ▲ storing inorganic substancesuch as earthenware, metal, stone pigment samples(3F), ▲ component analysis onsoil and food remains, DNA analysis and organic materials analysis such as wooden lacquerware(漆器), natural glue(阿膠)and natural dye used in Buddhist painting and traditional painting (4F), ▲ inorganic component analysis using X-ray, non-destructive analysis and electron microscope(5F). 

The opening ceremony on April 15th at 10:00 a.m. will begin with the introduction video of the Conservation Science Division of NRICH and the footsteps of the establishment of CHAIC since 2016. The afternoon session will begin with ‘CHAIC Opening Ceremony Symposium’ at 1:20p.m. and the panelist presentations are as follows: ▲ The Footsteps of the NRICH Conservation Science (Lee Oh-hee / Honorary President, The Korean Society of Conservation Science forCultural Heritage), ▲ CHAIC Operational Guidelines and Plans(Seo Min-seok/ Senior Researcher, NationalResearch Institute of Cultural Heritage), ▲ Conservation Science Roadmap of Cultural Heritage(Wi Koang-Chul/ President, The Korean Society of Conservation Science for Cultural Heritage). 

The symposium will serve as an important platform to explore the future roadmap to Conservation Science and provide the guideline for CHAIC to become the main conservation science hub of Korea.

To prevent the COVID 19 transmission, the symposium will be broadcasted live on NRICH official Youtube channel(https://youtu.be/gEjdOOzLNwM) and only the minimum number of on-site participants will be invited. 

With 50 years of accumulated achievement results in sampling analysis, NRICH under the Cultural Heritage Administration of the Republic of Korea (CHA) will continue to strive to act as the main central hub of the cultural heritage analysis information by building a big data platform for the public use.

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