Aesthetic and technical considerations regarding the colour and texture of ancient goldwork

Ogden, Jack M.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-7506-1611-9.50008-x

Cited by 24 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…10,11 The new results have in general confirmed the results obtained by Ogden, except for his too high Sn results. These were most probably due to problems of corrosion and redeposition of Sn on the surface of his small samples.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Development of artificial black patina on Mycenaean metal finds

Giumlía-Mair

2013

Surface Engineering

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Artificially black patinated finds from Mycenaean contexts are among the most interesting Bronze Age metal objects. They come from several contexts in the Eastern Mediterranean and are important because of their technology and as indication of trade and cultural connections. Regrettably only few examples of items of this material have been scientifically examined. Archaeologists without a scientific background are still not aware of the true nature of the black material with precious metal inlays. This paper presents a research on the development of the patina on a Mycenaean dagger and on the famous silver cup from Enkomi in Cyprus. The alloys employed for the black inlays, analysed up to now, consist of Cu containing low amounts of Au that was artificially patinated by different methods: either the red hot object was plunged into an aqueous solution containing copper salts and alum or it was heated in the boiling solution.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Development of artificial black patina on Mycenaean metal finds

Giumlía-Mair

2013

Surface Engineering

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“…This one nugget showed a Pb content of 2200 ppm (the major composition being: 94.2% Au, 5.8% Ag and 0.003% Cu). No explanation has yet been found for this phenomenon, but in Ogden (1993) we read that '0.2% lead was reported in a sample of native electrum from West Africa'.…”

Section: Gold In the Middle East From The Abbasids To The Fatimidsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…However, the problem of the lead concentration in gold is not still completely understood, as discussed further in the section 'Gold in the Middle East from the Abbasids to the Fatimids'. To cite Ogden (1993), the West African gold ores may show high lead contents.…”

Section: Appendixmentioning

confidence: 99%

The circulation of precious metals in the Arab Empire: the case of the near and the Middle East*

Gondonneau

Guerra

2002

Archaeometry

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The analysis by nuclear activation techniques and by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry combined with an UV laser of a large number of gold coins issued in the Arab Empire from the seventh to the 12th century AD showed that several different supplying sources were used, according to the region and to the period.The aim of this paper is to point out the circulation of gold in the Near and Middle Eastern mints of the Arab Empire and to make a parallel with the mints' policies running in the other regions of the Empire, such as North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and the Sicily.The identification of different gold ores by means of characteristic trace elements indicated recycling of the ancient coinage and, after AD 750, the minting in the entire Arab Empire of different new gold ores: Egyptian type, North Eastern type and West African type. The analysis of a small number of silver coins from the same periods and regions also showed a change in the ore supply after AD 750.

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“…However, the properties of gold alloys (Leuser 1949) should also be considered. The composition, decoration and intended surface appearance might be more interrelated than hitherto assumed (Ogden 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Assessment of Osmium Isotope Ratios as a New Tool to Determine the Provenance of Gold with Platinum‐Group Metal Inclusions*

Junk

Pernicka

2003

Archaeometry

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The sudden increase in the amount of Celtic gold coins circulating in central Europe during the second century BC coincides with the appearance of platinum-group mineral (PGM) inclusions in the Celtic gold. It has been proposed that large amounts of gold were introduced from the eastern Mediterranean by mercenaries following the conquest by Alexander the Great, but another hypothesis might be the discovery of entirely new gold sources in central Europe during this time. The presence of PGM inclusions in gold objects is usually taken as an indication for an origin from placer deposits (Hartmann 1970; Park 1986). Initially, it was hoped that those inclusions could be characteristic for a certain deposit, but Meeks and Tite (1980) have shown that the compositional variation within a single gold object can be as large as the total variation observed in all investigated gold artefacts. Therefore, the elemental composition of the PGMs in gold artefacts does not provide any reliable information on the provenance of the gold.An alternative to chemical analysis of the inclusions is the determination of their osmium isotope ratios. Similarly to lead, osmium exhibits a variable isotopic composition due to the radioactive decay of 187 Re and 190 Pt. In order to investigate the potential of this new geochemical tool to determine the provenance of ancient gold, a quasi-non-destructive method for the determination of Os isotope ratios with LA-MC-ICP-MS has been developed.The results show that different types of deposits can be distinguished by Os isotope patterns and their distributions when applying a simple descriptive statistical method. In contrast to lead isotope ratios, the variations of Os isotope abundances are rather large in many ore deposits. But, also contrary to lead, the heterogeneity of the Os isotope ratios of the deposits is preserved in the artefacts, because the analysed PGMs are not dissolved during melting of the gold. Therefore, it is feasible to distinguish between different types of gold sources and to define specific deposits provided that the artefact contains several PGMs. The application of this new technique to Celtic gold coins from southern Germany and coins from western Anatolia has been demonstrated in this study.

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Aesthetic and technical considerations regarding the colour and texture of ancient goldwork

Cited by 24 publications

References 6 publications

Development of artificial black patina on Mycenaean metal finds

Development of artificial black patina on Mycenaean metal finds

The circulation of precious metals in the Arab Empire: the case of the near and the Middle East*

An Assessment of Osmium Isotope Ratios as a New Tool to Determine the Provenance of Gold with Platinum‐Group Metal Inclusions*

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