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Trace-elements are more significant for provenancing archaeological metallic artifacts than the main components. For gold, the most promising elements are platinum group elements (PGE), Sn, Te, Sb, Hg and Pb. Several small fragments of natural Transylvanian gold placer and primary were studied by using micro-PIXE technique at the Legnaro National Laboratory AN2000 microbeam facility, Italy and at the AGLAE accelerator, C2RMF, Paris, France and by using micro synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (micro-SR-XRF) at BESSY synchrotron, Berlin, Germany. The goal of the study was to identify the trace-elements, especially Sn, Sb and Te. A spectacular application to five Dacian gold bracelets authentication is presented (Sn and Sb traces).
The Sarmizegetusa bracelets
(2010)
We present the authentication and analysis of these beautiful Dacian bracelets of the first century BC, originally pillaged by treasure hunters and recovered thanks to an international crime chase. They were originally fashioned from gold panned from the rivers or dug from the mines of Transylvania and hammered into the form of coiled snakes. The lack of context is the greatest loss, but a votive purpose is likely given their proximity to the great sacred centre at Sarmizegetusa Regia.
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objects and alluvial gold, reflected in a series of studies published between 2000–2011, supplemented with new results, unpublished up-to-date.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.