Abstract:

In today's society it is becoming increasingly clear that any branch of knowledge, any teaching, any novel research project that wants to be developed is born burdened if it arises in a monolithic and unidirectional manner. The transfer of knowledge between disciplines is an inescapable goal in the approach to any subject and reveals itself as one of the greatest challenges in Higher Education.
This fact is markedly stated in an area such as the archaeological research in which, in recent decades, a new line of study that tries to retrieve the polychromy in ancient statuary and architecture has been developed. It is evident that, without the contribution of tools provided by the eminently scientific disciplines, getting the results achieved so far would have been impossible, although the researchers engaged in this new line are aware of being still at the starting point.
In this paper we try to summarize and give an overview of the archaeometric methods proposed hitherto, both chemical analysis and physical tests, which have been used for the recovery of the colour. This way, by considering them diachronically, we will be able to assess the results obtained by those that have more prestige these days. From the vision provided by this cast of techniques and results, we expect to outline working hypotheses that address future research needs in this field. In addition, being capable of incorporating the technology required to obtain colour remains to others as the 3D digitization is guessed as an unavoidable task. This would allow us to perform these two tasks (3D digitization and colour remains recovery) within one unique campaign. Nowadays, these techniques are essential for the complete understanding of the material by archaeologists, all the more since excessive manipulation of sculptural or architectural remains is avoided.
Finally, the ultimate goal of this text will be the establishment of some guidelines to be followed when developing educational programs for all the disciplines that this line of research covers so that the university students interested in it can acquire the tools and skills necessary to improve their knowledge either in the field of research, both public and private, or in the work environment, finding out new applications and uses.