Ancient artifacts

In his latest dig, Dr. Butrell found an abundance of lead (Pb) in some ancient artifacts. What is the atomic number of Pb ... 

Besides the extraterrestrial application of MIMOS, there are a number of terrestrial applications, such as the investigation of rock paintings, ancient artifacts, and enviromnental science, where the instrument has been applied successfully. 

Knox, R. (1987), On distinguishing meteoritic from man made nickel-iron in ancient artifacts, Museum Appl. Sci. Center Archaeol.. 4(4), 178-184. 

Tourists soon discover that St. Maarten has an intriguing history. Ancient artifacts found on the island date back to the Stone Age, 6,000 years ago Tourists also learn that 1,200 years ago the Arawak... 

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is still a recent analytical technique that appeared in the middle of the 1980s and has yielded an increasing interest ever since (1). At the beginning of the 1990s, applications to determine the composition of archaeological or ancient artifacts... 

Other dyes may require larger samples to get satisfactory curves. The amount of sample to be sacrificed for the analysis is a function of the importance of the information to be obtained and possibly of the state of preservation of the object no one likes to damage any ancient artifact. 

Analysis of ancient artifacts by AAS is exemplified by the interlaboratory comparison study published by Chase (J2), in which, of 36 laboratories surveyed, 5—around 15%— were using AAS for analysis of ancient metals, and probably had been as early as 1965, when Gettens (J3) initiated the program. The importance of AAS for archaeology is recognized in an early paper by Bowers et al. (14). Probably the first and... 

Radiocarbon dating has attracted considerable attention. Carbon-14 is produced in the upper atmosphere by cosmic-ray bombardment of nitrogen-14. It is oxidised to carbon dioxide and eventually absorbed and incorporated in the tissues of plants and animals. The time taken for a carbon atom to complete such a carbon-cycle and return to the upper atmosphere is, on average, about 500 years. As the half-life of is 5568 years, the specific activity of carbon in the carbon cycle is roughly constant. But carbon removed from this life-embracing cycle by conversion to, and retention in, a solid such as wood, bone or shell loses activity at a rate determined by the decay constant for Thus the specific activity of carbon in a rock, a fossil plant or bone, or ancient artifact gives its age (Libby, 1951). Measurements are not easy because of the low specific activities but are of considerable and improving accuracy. 

An ancient artifact is found to have a ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 that... 

Function is another important area of study in archaeology and archaeological chemistry. Function refers to how tools, equipment, and facilities were used. In order to understand what people did in the past, it is essential to understand the purpose of their tools, facilities, and architecture. That can be a tall order when so much time has passed. There are no modem analogs for many of the tools and technologies of the past. In many cases it is necessary to investigate ancient artifacts and structures in order to determine how they were used. It s not an easy job. 

As anthropologists, such as Desmond Clark, attempt to piece together the strands of human history, they often call on other scientists for help. One important contribution that nuclear science has made in this area is the ability to determine the age of ancient artifacts. There are several techniques for doing this, but the most common process for dating objects of up to about 50,000 years is called radiocarbon dating. 

All sodium atoms are identical same atomic number, same mass number. For other elements, carbon is a good example, one or more isotopes may be radioactive as a result of unstable nuclei. Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon. Although carbon-14 is an infinitesimally small fraction of carbon atoms, its presence in all living things has led to its use in the radiocarbon dating of ancient artifacts. 

The p-activity of 1 g of C from recently felled timber is 0.26 Bq. An ancient artifact is thought to he 3500 years old. What p-activity from a 1 g sample would confirm this age ... 

Archaeologists traditionally classify ancient artifacts by observation and measurement of attributes of those artifacts for example, the length, shape, material and fabrication technique of projectile points, the paste color and texture, temper, decoration, thickness and porosity of ceramic potsherds. Obviously, some attributes are parametric (thickness, porosity), others are not (color, material, decoration) . ... 

We learn that radioisotope decays are first-order kinetic processes with characteristic h -lives. Decay rates can be used to determine the age of ancient artifacts and geological formations. 

Analytical techniques used for the study of materials or objects of artistic or archaeological importance are expected to provide a wealth of information on (1) the chemical composition or nature of the material under study, (2) the state of alteration of the objects caused by the long-term exposure to the environment, and (3) the effects of restoration procedures. All the above information must be typically extracted from samples that are a complex mixture of different chemical compounds. In fact, ancient artifacts were obtained by manipulating natural products that were often a mixture of both organic and inorganic compounds. Tlie altering processes that intervene in the life cycle of the artifacts contribute to further increase their chemical complexity. 

The Dead Sea Scrolls—like other ancient artifacts—contain a radioactive signature that reveals their age. This signature results from the presence of carbon-14— which is radioactive—in the environment. Carbon-14 is constantly formed in the upper atmosphere by the neutron bombardment of nitrogen. 

You explore and discover this ancient artifact, as well as Citlali, the woman who s been trapped by it and who s been writhing in pain for 1,000 years. 

The amount of carbon-14 in ancient artifacts and fossils is often used to estabhsh their age. Determine the number of protons and the number of neutrons in a carbon-14 isotope and write its symbol in the form X. 

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