Application of micro-CT: a new method for stone drilling research

Drilling is one of the most complex techniques for making ancient stone implement or adornment. For smaller perforations, it is very difficult to effectively observe drilling marks under microscope, SEM, or to obtain negative silicone rubber cast. In this report, a new exclusive nondestructive method was first introduced to resolve the observation difficulty. Virtual 3D reconstruction by using micro CT (microCT) was successfully applied to disclose drilling tool marks on the inner wall of one small perforation and its relative drilling technique was deduced, which implied that microCT has great potential to understand ancient stone drilling.