External microbeam set-up at the CNA (Sevilla) and its application to the study of Tartesic jewellery

A new external microbeam system has been installed recently at the +45 degr ees beam line of the 3 MV Pelletron accelerator at the Centro Nacional de A celeradores (Sevilla, Spain). The facility, based on the system from Oxford Microbeams (OM), includes two sets of slits, a doublet of magnetic quadrup ole focusing lenses, a Faraday cup and an accurate positioning device. In a ddition, a beam profile monitor (BPM) and a quartz viewer have been install ed in the line to facilitate the microbeam production. The first PIXE appli cation of the new facility was made in the field of Archaeometry, on the st udy of Tartesic gold artefacts (700-500 BC, SW of Spain) from Ebora and oth er archaeological sites. The aim of the analysis was to perform an exhausti ve and systematic study about the soldering procedures that were employed b y the goldsmiths along the Valley of Guadalquivir River after the Phoenicia n colonisation. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.