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SYCH: Intersectional Symposium Cultural Heritage in the Light of Physical Methods

SYCH 2: Cultural Heritage in the Light of Physical Methods II

SYCH 2.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:00–17:30, HSZ 02

X-ray fluorescence analysis using synchrotron radiation excitation — •Martin Radtke, Günter Buzanich, Uwe Reinholz, and Heinrich Riesemeier — BAM Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung

Archaeology and Archaeometry are two emergent fields in materials science with an increasing demand of access to synchrotron radiation (SR) based techniques such as X-ray imaging, X-ray Diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and IR spectroscopy. These methods allow the characterization of specific features or fingerprints of the materials that are often comprised of trace element compositions or the presence of particular minor phases that can be for instance, used as a marker of the provenance of a material or a distinct fabrication technique.

In this contribution especially the use of SR for the analysis of ancient gold objects using X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) is presented. After an introduction to the properties of SR the results for measurements at the Sky Disc of Nebra, the Berlin Gold hat and the Hiddensee treasure are discussed.

All examples of this presentation have been measured with the SR-XRF setup at the BAMline at BESSY II. A superconducting wavelength shifter with a maximum field of 7 Tesla is the X-ray source. The useable energy ranges from 5 up to 80 keV. Thus nearly all elements can be detected by measurement of their K-shell flourescence. With compound refractive lenses a beam diameter of 1 micron can be achieved.