Studies on archaeological gold items found in Romanian territory using X-Ray-based analytical spectrometry

Constantinescu, B.; Vasilescu, Angela; Stan, Daniela; Radtke, Martin; Reinholz, Uwe; Buzanich, Günter; Ceccato, D.; Oberländer-Târnoveanu, Ernest

doi:10.1039/c2ja30158j

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Note that bismuth is one of the most important minor elements related to silver mines (type of ore) (Kallithrakas‐Kontos et al ), since its content can help to determine the mining location. With regard to other minor elements, tin and antimony can be widely found as an impurity of copper ores and galena [as cassiterite, SnO 2 (Constantinescu et al ) and stibnite, Sb 2 S 3 (Hajivaliei et al )]. According to Hajivaliei et al (), the higher antimony content in medieval coins indicates primitive smelting—typically, smelting at low temperature.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of the Fineness of Medieval Coins—Evaluation of Methods in a Case Study of a Medieval Pfennig

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The original fineness of coins is very important information that can help us to understand the commercial situation in a wide historical context. This paper deals with a comparison of analytical methods suitable for the evaluation of the actual and original fineness of coins based on a detailed case study of a medieval coin sample. Both non-destructive (i.e., scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, atomic force microscopy and hydrostatic weighing) and destructive (i.e., inductively coupled plasmamass spectrometry and the Volhard titration method) techniques were used. The original fineness can be also deduced from knowledge of the internal structure of the coin (limited miscibility of copper and silver). A new analytical method based on a combination of a micrograph of the metallographic cross-section with consequent image analysis was developed for determination of the original fineness. The proposed approach is relatively simple and provides reliable values. Sample heterogeneity and its impact on the determination of fineness are also discussed.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of the Fineness of Medieval Coins—Evaluation of Methods in a Case Study of a Medieval Pfennig

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…3) specimen revealed inhomogeneity in the composition of the object. According to Bogdan Constantinescu and his colleagues, this object may have been put together from different gold nuggets by heating and hammering, which caused different elemental composition on the white and yellow surfaces of the object (Oberfrank 1986, 11, 24;Constantinescu et al 2012, 2077Constantinescu, Cristea-Stan 2019, 61). Apart from these analyses, the literature does not contain any more results on gold armlets with crescent-shaped terminals that would be comparable.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Handheld XRF analysis of gold armlets with crescent-shaped terminals from the prehistoric collection of the Hungarian National Museum

Tarbay¹,

Maróti²

2022

CommArchHung

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, we present the elemental composition results determined with handheld XRF method on the gold armlets with crescent-shaped terminals from the Prehistoric Collection of the Hungarian National Museum. In addition to the new Tápióbicske find, the Dunavecse, Biia, the Géza Kárász Collection find from Transylvania and the Körös area specimens were also included in the analysis. Based on the handheld XRF results, it can be concluded that most of the studied armlets have high Ag (21–24 wt%) and low Cu (0.06–0.17 wt%) content. These objects form a relatively uniform group (Hartmann A3) based on their elemental composition, regardless of their type and presumed date. Lower Ag content was only detected in the Körös area find (ca. 5.8 wt%) (Hartmann B) and in the rivets of the Biia armlet (ca. 12.3 wt%) (Hartmann L/Q2). Our results suggest that the studied armlets had a lower Ag content compared to the previous measurements on the Bilje, Pipea and Boarta armlets, made by different techniques (OES, SR XRF). The applied method is not suitable to determine the origin of the raw materials. Only the material type could be defined as native gold.

show abstract

“…the case of the famous Dacian gold bracelets (Constantinescu et al 2002, Constantinescu et al 2012, where the presence of certain trace elements like Sn, Sb, Te etc proved to be useful in order to identify the most probable sources of metal for their manufacture within the historical background, and even help to authenticate the respective items, a similar approach is applied here to archaelogical silver. Both the minerals and the metallurgy of gold and silver have their specificities, but, keeping this in mind, one can try to correlate their chemical composition and the presence of certain trace -elements in the material with geological and historical knowledge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Studies on ancient silver metallurgy using SR XRF and micro-PIXE

Vasilescu

Constantinescu

Stan

et al. 2015

Radiation Physics and Chemistry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Studies on archaeological gold items found in Romanian territory using X-Ray-based analytical spectrometry

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

Determination of the Fineness of Medieval Coins—Evaluation of Methods in a Case Study of a Medieval Pfennig

Determination of the Fineness of Medieval Coins—Evaluation of Methods in a Case Study of a Medieval Pfennig

Handheld XRF analysis of gold armlets with crescent-shaped terminals from the prehistoric collection of the Hungarian National Museum

Studies on ancient silver metallurgy using SR XRF and micro-PIXE

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About