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Recent results from a three-year multi-disciplinary project on Ancient Egyptian gold jewellery revealed that items of jewellery from the Middle Kingdom to the New Kingdom were manufactured using a variety of alluvial gold alloys. These alloys cover a wide range of colours and the majority contain Platinum Group Elements inclusions. However, in all the gold foils analysed, these inclusions were found to be absent. In this work a selection of gilded wood and leather items and gold foil fragments, all from the excavations by John Garstang at Abydos (primarily from Middle Kingdom graves), were examined using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Disperse Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), X-Ray Fluorescence (µXRF), Particle Induced X-Ray Emission (µPIXE) and Double Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (D²XRF). The work allowed us to characterise the composition of the base-alloys and also to reveal the presence of Pt at trace levels, confirming the use of alluvial gold deposits. Corrosion products were also investigated in the foils where surface tarnish was visually observed. Results showed that the differences in the colour of corrosion observed for the foils are related not only to the thickness of the corrosion layer but also to a multi-layer structure containing the various corrosion products.
The structure and composition of ancient gold objects retain information about their long history of manufacture, from the exploitation of the ore to the finishing touches, as well as evidence of their use, deposition, and degradation. By developing an efficient analytical strategy, it is possible to retrieve that information. This chapter sets the necessary foundation 131to explore fully the analytical results presented in the following chapters of this volume. The techniques employed in the analyses of the Egyptian jewellery are described and the analytical parameters provided. For more established techniques, only brief introductions are presented, while more recent developments are presented in greater detail.
Gold mosaics, made from gold and glass, are one of the best expressions of Late Antique Byzantine and Early Islamic art. The gold alloys, whose composition seems to indicate that gold coins were re-used to fabricate the tesserae, can be used to provide information on the mosaics chronology. Monetary Byzantine gold is in fact characterized by the presence of Pt, which contents in the gold alloy change over time, but Pt must be measured in 0.2-0.4 µm thickness gold leaves that were beaten to be sandwiched between two glass layers.
To analyze this samples the D²XRF set-up at the BAMline at the BESSY synchrotron in Berlin was used. The combination of a crystal for wavelength dispersion and an energy resolving single photon counting pnCCD allows the realization of this very simple wavelength dispersive detection system. With this system an MDL of 1 μg/g for the determination of Pt in Au under optimal conditions can be reached.
Gold leaf tesserae from nine archaeological sites, covering the period that goes from the 5th c. to the 8th c., were analyzed. The presence of Pt in the majority of the samples confirmed the re-use of coins. The Pt contents separate the samples in three groups, one of which having the same chemical characteristics as the Byzantine gold could be compared to dated coins for chronology. The higher Pt contents for one of other groups suggest
To gain insight into the possible origin of the gold used in the production of tesserae containing gold leaf less than 0.5 μm thick placed between two layers of glass, we propose a non-destructive synchrotron radiation (SR) XRF protocol based on sequential analysis under optimised analytical conditions. Using this protocol, trace element analysis is achieved with detection limits of 1–6 mg/kg. As Pt and Au have adjacent fluorescence energies, we tested the most challenging situation, when Pt is present in very low concentrations in gold. Data obtained by double-dispersive XRF (D2XRF) and μXRF for fourth–ninth-century mosaics decorating nine Eastern and Western religious buildings show that the Eastern and Western tesserae are made from different alloys.
However, these alloys are identical to those used to make gold leaf for gilding, because plastic deformation requires the use of gold alloys with high ductility and malleability. Although trace element composition of gold used in the concerned period is only available for coins, by comparing the amounts of Pt contained in the tesserae and in the coins we show that Roman tesserae are made from Roman gold, as described in the documentary sources. We observe for the Byzantine period the use of a Byzantine gold and of gold supposedly from different stages of recycling, and we suggest the use of Umayyad and Abbasid gold for the production of Islamic tesserae.