Infrared reflection spectrometry analysis as a non‐destructive method of characterizing minerals and stone materials in geoarchaeological and archaeometric applications

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to show the benefits and applications of using mid and far infrared reflection spectrometry (IRS) in the analysis of archaeological materials. Infrared spectral databases do not yet exist for rocks and principal minerals. In support of IRS techniques, a catalogue and new spectral database have been created with over 500 infrared reflection spectra in mid and far ranges from more than 250 different archaeological minerals and stone materials. The reflection spectrum serves as a "fingerprint" of all these materials. This new, non-destructive method is useful for spectrometric identification and crystal chemical characterization of many rocks and minerals commonly found in archaeological contexts. Three brief examples of IRS analysis of archaeological materials are presented as test cases. It is suggested that IRS could and should become a routine approach in geoarchaeology and archaeometry for identification and provenance studies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this paper is to show the benefits and applications of using mid and far infrared reflection spectrometry (IRS) in the analysis of archaeological materials. IRS is a non-destructive technique that can provide diagnostic and crystal chemical information on the mineralogical phases of stone artifacts, artworks, and building materials. Since non-destructive methods are preferred in geoarchaeological and archaeometric identification, the IRS method, which utilizes non-contact light beams, is considered to be an appropriate method for this aim. IRS is also useful as an alternative to the more traditional methods of X-ray analysis such as XRD, SEM/EDS, and EPMA.It is well known that a variety of minerals can occur in stone samples from archaeological contexts. Minerals are also found as pigments and fillers in paint films, in soil molded into earthen artifacts and mud brick, as corrosion products on metal surfaces, in stone fabrications such as sculpture and architectural monuments, in cements, in building stones, and in ceramics. In recent years several papers have been published dealing with IRS analysis of various rocks and minerals, but most of these studies were performed on powdered material (Hawthorne, 1988;Salisbury et al., 1992). To my knowledge, only a few studies have been devoted to the study of principal minerals and gemological materials using in situ non-destructive IRS experiments (Ostrooumov, 1982(Ostrooumov, , 2007Vochmentzev & Ostrooumov, 1987;Martin, Merigoux, & Zecchini, 1989;Banerjee & Gaida, 1999;Ostrooumov, Lasnier, & Lefrant, 1995;Ostrooumov et al., 2004Ostrooumov et al., , 2006, and literature dealing with IRS studies of minerals and stone materials found in archaeological objects is even more uncommon.The current study was undertaken to compensate for the absence of published literature relating to the IRS of mineral and stone artifacts. IRS is a non-destructive method, and thus potentially a very important tool for archaeometrists and geoarchaeologists. Existing infrared spectral...

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