TY - JOUR A1 - Constantinescu, B. A1 - Vasilescu, A. A1 - Stan, D. A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Reinholz, Uwe A1 - Buzanich, Günter A1 - Ceccato, D. A1 - Oberländer-Târnoveanu, E. T1 - Studies on archaeological gold items found in Romanian territory using X-ray-based analytical spectrometry N2 - This paper is an overview of the work developed by our group in the investigations of museum objects and alluvial gold, reflected in a series of studies published between 2000–2011, supplemented with new results, unpublished up-to-date. The X-ray based spectrometric techniques employed range from various X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) investigations to ion beam analysis, including synchrotron radiation XRF and micro-Particle Induced X-ray Emission. The gold objects discussed are mainly part of the Sarmizegetusa Dacian hoards—spiraled bracelets (armbands) and coins. After obtaining in 2011 the permission of the Romanian authorities to take very small (1–2 mg) samples from the most 'unimportant' areas of the Dacian bracelets and several Koson staters, to analyze them by micro-SR-XRF at BESSY, in February 2012, the investigation of several micro-areas of 17 stater and 28 bracelet samples revealed important micro-structural inhomogeneity, especially in Sn and Cu. The same inhomogeneous micro-structure has been seen in Transylvanian alluvial gold. The analyses revealed details on the fingerprint of geological gold deposits and also the main characteristics of ancient gold metallurgy procedures used by the Dacians: a relatively low temperature (lower than Au melting point) and hammering during heating to obtain an ingot through sintering. The use of the sintering procedure was proved for the spiraled bracelets and the Koson without monogram coins, a tradition starting in the Bronze Age in Transylvanian gold processing. The existence of micro-inclusions of Ta-minerals in alluvial gold was also detected, explaining Ta trace presence in the artifacts from the Pietroasa hoard. KW - Micro-SR-XRF KW - Micro-PIXE KW - Archaeometry KW - Gold KW - Romania PY - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c2ja30158j SN - 0267-9477 SN - 1364-5544 VL - 27 IS - 12 SP - 2076 EP - 2081 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - London AN - OPUS4-26991 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vasilescu, A. A1 - Constantinescu, B. A1 - Stan, D. A1 - Radtke, Martin A1 - Reinholz, Uwe A1 - Buzanich, Günter A1 - Ceccato, D. T1 - Studies on ancient silver metallurgy using SR XRF and micro-PIXE N2 - This work presents a complex evaluation of a series of Geto-Thracian silver adornments found on Romanian territory, part of the 4th century BC Agighiol (Northern Dobruja) hoard and of an ingot from the 1st century BC Geto-Dacian Surcea (Transylvania) hoard, using Synchrotron Radiation X-Ray Fluorescence and micro- Proton Induced X-ray Emission analysis and mapping in order to investigate aspects related to the elemental composition of the metal and the metallurgy implied in their manufacture. One of the samples can be linked to Laurion as the source of metal, and several items contain silver probably originated in Macedonia. The set of silver items was found to be heteregenous as composition and microstructure, and corrosion-related elements could be also identified in the X-Ray maps. KW - Synchrotron radiation XRF KW - Micro-PIXE KW - Archaeological silver PY - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2015.07.008 SN - 0969-806X SN - 0020-7055 SN - 0146-5724 VL - 117 SP - 26 EP - 34 PB - Pergamon Press CY - Oxford [u.a.] ; Frankfurt, M. AN - OPUS4-33809 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -