XRF, PIXE and SR-XRF studies on prehistoric gold provenance

One of the most efficient methods to authenticate ancient gold artifacts and find their provenance is to identify trace elements – Sn, Sb, Te, PGA (especially Pt, Ir-Os, Pd), considered as “fingerprints” of a geological source, as ancient metallurgy techniques did not remove them. In the case of pre...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bogdan Costantinescu, Daniela Cristea-Stan
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Union Internationale des Sciences Préhistoriques et Protohistoriques 2019-03-01
Series:UISPP Journal
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Summary:One of the most efficient methods to authenticate ancient gold artifacts and find their provenance is to identify trace elements – Sn, Sb, Te, PGA (especially Pt, Ir-Os, Pd), considered as “fingerprints” of a geological source, as ancient metallurgy techniques did not remove them. In the case of prehistoric and Dacian gold artifacts we begun in 2006 a study on possible traces of tin (fingerprint of alluvial gold), antimony and tellurium (fingerprints for Transylvanian native gold) preserved in the objects, most probably nano-inclusions as a consequence of a primitive metallurgy. The employed investigation tools are XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence), micro-SR- XRF (Synchrotron Radiation – X-Ray Fluorescence) and micro-PIXE (Proton Induced X-ray Emission). The paper presents the main results obtained in the frame of this study.
ISSN:2612-2782