Characterisation and Analysis of Metallic Artefacts from the Pylos Archaeological Museum

Abstract

The present study focuses on the analysis of four unique artefacts, originally recovered from a tomb complex of the Hellenistic period and now displayed at the New Pylos Archaeological Museum, Niokastro fortress of Pylos, Greece (since 2016). The items are rod-shaped, with a length between 5.5 and 14.6 cm and intricate decorative patterns. The rods were analysed following a multi-technique, non-invasive approach, using optical microscopy, XRF, SEM/EDS and FTIR. The analysis suggests that the three brown rods are made of wrought iron; successive areas of calcite crystal formations are associated with environmental depositions and corrosion defects. The white rod shows distinctly different chemical characteristics: it is composed of a thick core identified as bone and covered by a thin layer of lead. The combined microscopic, chemical and spectroscopic analysis resulted in the chemical characterisation of the artefacts and thus in a better understanding of their properties. In turn, the analysis has lead to hypotheses for the likely function of these unique artefacts (i.e. three writing implements and one decorative hinge).

Results of Archaeometrical Studies on a Kontush Sash from Piaseczno (Pomorskie Province, Poland)

“…Both research objectives were completed by applying physicochemical methods, often used while examining historical objects due to their non-destructive and non-invasive character. the first group includes microscopic observations with the use of stereo microscopes, or metallographic or x-ray fluorescence spectrometers (Janssens et al 2000(Janssens et al , fitzgerald 2008Kylafi et al 2017). the same methods have been applied for many years to studies of various textiles (good 2001;Brandt and Allentoft 2019;Suomela et al 2022, Vanden Berghe et al 2023.…”