Archaeological alloys, studies

The broad range of elements to which ICP-MS is sensitive is another advantage for archaeology-based studies. Some important elements found in metal alloys, glass colorants, ceramic paints, and/or glazes cannot be measured by INAA (i.e., Pb) or require nonstandard analytical procedures (i.e., Cu, Ag, Sn) due to nuclear properties or matrix effects. ICP-MS also permits isotope ratio characterization (albeit with limitations, as discussed below), which can be as or more useful than elemental abundances in provenance investigations of... 

AAS has been widely used in Europe to study archaeological ceramics and metals, ranging from Chinese celadons (Pollard and Hatcher 1986) to Roman terra sigillata (Mirti et al. 1990), and from Renin bronzes (Willett and Sayre 2000) and Islamic brasses (Al-Saad 2000) to Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age copper alloys from ancient Israel (Shalev 1995). ICP-AES, using solution sampling, can potentially provide data on a wider range of elements... 

Dillmann, P., Neff, D., Mazaudier, F., et al. (2002). Characterisation of iron archaeological analogues using micro diffraction under synchrotron radiation. Application to the study of long term corrosion behaviour of low alloy steels. Journal de Physique IV12 393 408. 

ICP-MS has also been used to measure trace elements in archaeological native silver artifacts [345] in order to identify their geographical origins. The low detection limits provided by ICP-MS allowed analysis of trace elements on 3 to 15 mg of sample. The passivation of alloy steels using acid solutions has been studied by XPS measurements of the solid in combination of ICP-MS analysis of the passivation solutions [346,347]. When bullets are crushed on impact, striations cannot be used for identification. The percentage of antimony, trace element composition, and lead isotope ratios in bullets was measured for forensic evidence [348]. The lead isotope ratios were found to be the most useful evidence. 

With the above mentioned artistic, historical, and economic questions in mind, we began to study the lead isotope ratios of Nigerian copper alloys, as briefly reported earlier (23). Small samples were removed by scraping objects in the collections of the British Museum (London), the Nigerian National Museum (Lagos), the Department of Archaeology of the University of Ibadan, and the University of Ife. Mass spectrometric analyses were made from the samples taken from 19 of these objects (see Table I and Figures 4, 5, and 6). 

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