Material description of a unique relief fibula from Poland

Abstract

A unique relief fibula dated to the Migration Period (first half of the sixth century) was found in Radziejów, Poland. This stray find changes previous opinions on the lack of settlement in central Poland at that time. As the find is the only one of such type in Poland, a special attention was paid to possible analogies, mainly finds from Scandinavia and Western Europe. The fibula underwent technological analyses in order to reveal its technology of manufacture. For this purpose, the chemical and elemental composition of the alloy was studied. Several physico-chemical complementary techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and micro-hardness testing (HV0.2) were used to study the technology of the find. The investigations revealed that this artefact was made from brass (4-17 wt% Zn) with an admixture of Sn (2-12 wt%). Two technologies were used: casting for the bow and forming for the part with the axle of the spring. The artefact's surface was tinned in the hot-dipping process. The physical structural analyses demonstrated that the artefact was cast and ornamented by surface stamping under a relatively low temperature (about 500°C).

Archaeometric studies on early medieval silver jewellery from Central and Eastern Europe

“…SEM-EDX analysis, described in detail in Goldstein et al (2007), is a popular non-destructive technique used in studies of archaeological finds (e.g. Scrivano et al 2017a, b;Ontalba Salamanca et al 1998;Ashkenazi et al 2017Ashkenazi et al , 2018Linke and Schreiner 2000, Linke et al 2003Ingo et al 2004;Miśta et al 2017;Gójska and Miśta 2016). Twenty-six artefacts were tested altogether.…”

“…The isotopic analysis which is offered below was divided into two areas-an analysis within technological groups and a provenance analysis. In the latter case, geological data (as means) was taken from the available literature (Ettler et al 2015;Merkel et al 2013;Hatz et al 1991). In both cases, all LA-ICP-MS results were taken into consideration for the artefacts.…”

A silvered shield grip from the Roman Period: a technological study of its silver coating

“…Details of analytical techniques which were used in our examinations are well known and have been thoroughly discussed in archaeometallurgical research (see, e.g. Miazga 2014; Ashkenazi et al 2015;Gójska and Miśta 2016;Miśta et al 2015Miśta et al 2017;Matthew and Young 2016). In this case, the research procedure commenced with elemental and structural composition analyses of representative technological parts of the shield grip.…”