CHARACTERIZATION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL BRONZES USING PIXE, PIGE, RBS AND AES SPECTROMETRIES

A reliable knowledge of the composition of archaeological bronzes for major and trace elements is of primary interest for the archaeologist. The composition of the metal artefacts gives information on the ancie nt technological knowledge and may help to distinguish between prehist oric cultural traditions, Pieces of bronzes from two pre-roman sites i n Spain with different cultural traits have been analysed by ion beam analytical techniques (PIXE, PIGE and RES) and Auger electron spectros copy (AES), Joint use of these techniques has been found to be useful as they give complementary information on elemental composition and ch emical state, The possible disturbance of the patina as a mask for the determination of the original underlying bronze composition has also been studied, (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.