M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)

Analysis - BIRÓ Tamás: Nuclear methods in archaeometry developed in the Institute of Isotopes

A number of ad hoc and systematic measurements have been carried out on a broad variety of museum and archaeological objects, made of brass, bronze, iron, gold, silver^ lead, stone, enamel, glass, minerals, etc. In most cases, related parts could be identified. It is worth noting that exaggerated expectations cannot always be fulfilled, e.g. the Gothic Sculptures recently found in the Buda castlê area were indistinguishable,obviously sculptured from the same material. It was, however, interesting that the painted surfaces could be recognized by the detection of lead traces, even if the paints were already mvisible. A systematic investigation of copper axes and ores joined the complex stjidy of Copper Age technology m the Carpathian Basin lead by the Institute of Archaeology of the Hungarian Academy Of Sciences. Earlier publications pointed to the extreme purity of the axes, and it was flpstulated that they were hammered from native copper nuggets. XRF measurements oh 8 axes from various parts of the country proved the earlier observations as no (xmiamination above the 50—100 ppm level was found except a small amount of iron This was confirmed later by using other analytical methods as well, however in one of the axes Ni was detected in a concentration about 100 ppm, which is unobservable by XRF in a Cu matrix (see Table 1). Table 1 Analysis of sample from a copper axe Mass tpectr. Optical emission spekr. Be 0.0096 <1 C 0.48 Na 0.11 Mg 0.10 Al 0.29 Si 6.8 <1 P 0.056 <5 S 5.1 K 0.16 Ca 021 Cr 0.23 <1 Fe 5.5 4 Mn 0.22 <05 Ni 18 135 Co 0.074 <1 Zn 19 15 Ge 1.4 <1 As 6.4 42 Se 3.8 Br 0.13 Ag 53 13 Sb 3.7 4.0 Te 1.1 I 0.049 TI 034 Pb 4.2 4.7 Bi 0.25 <1