Non-destructive Determination of Building Stone Provenance

Karel Pavelka; Eva Matoušková; Kateřina Kovářová

doi:10.68732/29cbc2fe1cad71a9

Paper contribution

Non-destructive Determination of Building Stone Provenance

Karel Pavelka; Eva Matoušková; Kateřina Kovářová

DOI: https://doi.org/10.68732/29cbc2fe1cad71a9
Proceedings: EUROCK 2026
Pages: 673-679
Submitted: 16 June 2026
Accepted: 15 June 2026
Published: 12 August 2026

Summary

Abstract

In professional conservation practice, determining the provenance of building stone used in historic structures represents a frequent and methodologically complex task. Conventional analytical approaches capable of providing reliable answers are predominantly destructive, as they require sampling of the investigated material. Sample extraction is often unacceptable in the case of valuable architectural or artistic elements. For this reason, the present study focuses on the application of reflectance spectroscopy as a promising, efficient, and non-destructive analytical method. The paper introduces the fundamental principles of this technique, discusses its analytical potential, and evaluates its applicability to the study of historic building and decorative stone, including its limitations and the requirements for further methodological development.

Contributors

Authors

Karel Pavelka Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, dept. of Geomatics, Czech Republic ORCID 0000-0003-2743-6296
Eva Matoušková Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, dept. of Geomatics, Czech Republic
Kateřina Kovářová Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Civil Engineering, dept. of Geotechnics, Czech Republic

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Works cited

References

Březinová et al. (1996) Praha kamenná, in Czech ("Stone Prague: Natural stones in Prague's buildings and works of art").National Museum in Prague
Cihla et al. (2022). Vzorník stop a rekonstrukce historických kamenických nástrojů, in Czech (Catalogue of Footprints and Reconstructions of Historical Stonemasonry Tools), project “The Topography of Stone, Surfaces and Its Applications in the Restoration of Stone Elements “,2019-2022, Czech Ministry of Culture, https://stonetopography.is.cvut.cz
Clark, R. N. (1999). Spectroscopy of rocks and minerals, and principles of spectroscopy. In A. N. Rencz (Ed.), Manual of Remote Sensing: Volume 3, Remote sensing for the earth sciences (3rd ed., pp. 3–58). John Wiley & Sons.
Doehne, E., Price, C. A. (2010). Stone conservation: An overview of current research (2nd ed.). The Getty Conservation Institute.
Dontová, K. (2015). Methods for determining marble provenance. Bachelor’s thesis, Charles University in Prague.
Hopkinson, L. et al. (2015) Sourcing limestone masonry; for restoration of historic buildings, Journal of Cultural Heritage.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2015.03.007
Kovářová, K., Matoušková, E., Cihla, M. et al. (2025) New methods collection to identify the building and decoration stones provenance. Herit. Sci. 13, 42. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-01633-x
NASA Spectral Library.https://speclib.jpl.nasa.gov/. Accessed at 2025-12-1
Matoušková, E., Pavelka, K., Ibrahim, S. (2021). Creating a Material Spectral Library for Plaster and Mortar Material Determination, Materials. 13(22), 1-19. ISSN 1996-1944.https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14227030
Matoušková, E.; Kovářová, K. (2021). The Role of the Technical and Natural Sciences in Stone Monument Care. The Civil Engineering Journal. 30(4), 910-919. ISSN 1805-2576.https://doi.org/10.14311/CEJ.2021.04.0070
Pavelka, K., jr., Raeva, P., Hanuš, J.,Gojda, M. (2018). Using of both hyperspectral aerial sensing and RPAS multispectral sensing for potential archaeological sites detectionSPIE2018 Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Remote Sensing Technology, Techniques and Applications VII. Bellingham: SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING, SPIE. vol. 10780. ISSN 1996-756X. ISBN 9781510621367.https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2324299
Přikryl, R., et al. (2015). Material analysis of natural stone. (Certified methodology). Prague. https://www.nusl.cz.
SPIE Digital Library (reflectance spectroscopy application). https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/. Accessed at 2025-12-1
USGS Spectral Library. https://www.usgs.gov/labs/spectroscopy-lab/science/spectral-library. Accessed at 2025-12-1
Xu, F., Zeng, W., & Li, D. (2019). Recent advance in alkoxysilane-based consolidants for stone. Progress in Organic Coatings, 127, 45-54 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.porcoat.2018.12.007.

[1] Březinová et al. (1996) Praha kamenná, in Czech ("Stone Prague: Natural stones in Prague's buildings and works of art").National Museum in Prague

[2] Cihla et al. (2022). Vzorník stop a rekonstrukce historických kamenických nástrojů, in Czech (Catalogue of Footprints and Reconstructions of Historical Stonemasonry Tools), project “The Topography of Stone, Surfaces and Its Applications in the Restoration of Stone Elements “,2019-2022, Czech Ministry of Culture, https://stonetopography.is.cvut.cz

[3] Clark, R. N. (1999). Spectroscopy of rocks and minerals, and principles of spectroscopy. In A. N. Rencz (Ed.), Manual of Remote Sensing: Volume 3, Remote sensing for the earth sciences (3rd ed., pp. 3–58). John Wiley & Sons.

[4] Doehne, E., Price, C. A. (2010). Stone conservation: An overview of current research (2nd ed.). The Getty Conservation Institute.

[5] Dontová, K. (2015). Methods for determining marble provenance. Bachelor’s thesis, Charles University in Prague.

[6] Hopkinson, L. et al. (2015) Sourcing limestone masonry; for restoration of historic buildings, Journal of Cultural Heritage.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.culher.2015.03.007

[7] Kovářová, K., Matoušková, E., Cihla, M. et al. (2025) New methods collection to identify the building and decoration stones provenance. Herit. Sci. 13, 42. https://doi.org/10.1038/s40494-025-01633-x

[8] NASA Spectral Library.https://speclib.jpl.nasa.gov/. Accessed at 2025-12-1

[9] Matoušková, E., Pavelka, K., Ibrahim, S. (2021). Creating a Material Spectral Library for Plaster and Mortar Material Determination, Materials. 13(22), 1-19. ISSN 1996-1944.https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14227030

[10] Matoušková, E.; Kovářová, K. (2021). The Role of the Technical and Natural Sciences in Stone Monument Care. The Civil Engineering Journal. 30(4), 910-919. ISSN 1805-2576.https://doi.org/10.14311/CEJ.2021.04.0070

[11] Pavelka, K., jr., Raeva, P., Hanuš, J.,Gojda, M. (2018). Using of both hyperspectral aerial sensing and RPAS multispectral sensing for potential archaeological sites detectionSPIE2018 Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Remote Sensing Technology, Techniques and Applications VII. Bellingham: SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING, SPIE. vol. 10780. ISSN 1996-756X. ISBN 9781510621367.https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2324299

[12] Přikryl, R., et al. (2015). Material analysis of natural stone. (Certified methodology). Prague. https://www.nusl.cz.

[13] SPIE Digital Library (reflectance spectroscopy application). https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/. Accessed at 2025-12-1

[14] USGS Spectral Library. https://www.usgs.gov/labs/spectroscopy-lab/science/spectral-library. Accessed at 2025-12-1

[15] Xu, F., Zeng, W., & Li, D. (2019). Recent advance in alkoxysilane-based consolidants for stone. Progress in Organic Coatings, 127, 45-54 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.porcoat.2018.12.007.