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Portable XRF on Prehistoric Bronze Artefacts: Limitations and Use for the Detection of Bronze Age Metal Workshops

  • Heide Wrobel Nørgaard EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 18, 2017
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Abstract

Two different scientific analyses-one destructive and one non-destructive-were conducted on two separate groups of bronze ornaments dating from 1500-1100 BC to investigate, amongst other traits, the metal composition of their copper-tin alloys. One group of artefacts was sampled, and polished thin sections were analysed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results from the corrosion crust of copper-tin alloys, and the change measured within the elemental composition from the bulk metal to the surface, greatly influenced the interpretation of the second data set, which was measured using a handheld X-ray fluorescence (XRF) device. The surface of corroded bronze ornaments consists mostly of copper carbonates, oxides, and chlorides. Chemical processes, such as decuprification, change the element composition in such a manner that the original alloy cannot be traced with a non-destructive method. This paper compares the results of both investigations in order to define the possibilities and limits of non-destructive XRF analyses of corroded bronze artefacts.

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Received: 2016-9-29
Accepted: 2017-5-23
Published Online: 2017-7-18
Published in Print: 2017-1-26

© 2017

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

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