Roman coins at the edge of the Negev: characterisation of copper alloy artefacts and soil from Rakafot 54 (Beer Sheva, Israel)

Manuel J.H. Peters; Yuval Goren; Peter Fabian; José Mirão; Carlo Bottaini; Sabrina Grassini; Emma Angelini

doi:10.21014/ACTAIMEKO.V11I4.1285

Roman coins at the edge of the Negev: characterisation of copper alloy artefacts and soil from Rakafot 54 (Beer Sheva, Israel)

Manuel J.H. Peters^*, Yuval Goren, Peter Fabian, José Mirão, Carlo Bottaini, Sabrina Grassini, Emma Angelini

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

The research presented in this paper focused on the preliminary non- and semi-destructive analysis of copper alloys, corrosion, and soil components from a Roman archaeological site in Israel. Investigations using portable X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy as well as micromorphological analyses were carried out to gain a better understanding of the corrosion processes affecting the copper alloy artefacts, by characterising the alloy composition, soil environments, and corrosion products. Preliminary results indicate that the artefacts consist of copper-lead-tin alloys, covered by copper hydroxy-chlorides and lead sulphate phases with slight variations in their crystallisation. The multi-analytical approach revealed the presence of quartz, calcite, gypsum and feldspars in the sediments, while thin sections more specifically indicate loess soils with local micro-environments.

Original language	English
Article number	1285
Number of pages	6
Journal	Acta IMEKO
Volume	11
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.21014/ACTAIMEKO.V11I4.1285
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Roxana Golan for her work with the SEM, and Mafalda Costa and Dulce Valdez for their assistance in the interpretation of the diffractograms. The research presented in this paper was part of a doctoral dissertation [12], carried out mainly using data collected at Politecnico di Torino, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Universidade de Évora, as part of H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017, ED-ARCHMAT (ESR7). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 766311.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO). All rights reserved.

Keywords

archaeological materials science
archaeometallurgy
Archaeometry
classical archaeology
Near Eastern archaeology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Instrumentation
Mechanical Engineering
Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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10.21014/ACTAIMEKO.V11I4.1285Licence: CC BY

Roman coins at the edge of the Negev: characterisation of copper alloy artefacts and soil from Rakafot 54 (Beer Sheva, Israel)
© 2021 The Authors. This is an open access article published under a Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the author and source are cited.
Final published version, 1.02 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Roman coins at the edge of the Negev: characterisation of copper alloy artefacts and soil from Rakafot 54 (Beer Sheva, Israel)",

abstract = "The research presented in this paper focused on the preliminary non- and semi-destructive analysis of copper alloys, corrosion, and soil components from a Roman archaeological site in Israel. Investigations using portable X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy as well as micromorphological analyses were carried out to gain a better understanding of the corrosion processes affecting the copper alloy artefacts, by characterising the alloy composition, soil environments, and corrosion products. Preliminary results indicate that the artefacts consist of copper-lead-tin alloys, covered by copper hydroxy-chlorides and lead sulphate phases with slight variations in their crystallisation. The multi-analytical approach revealed the presence of quartz, calcite, gypsum and feldspars in the sediments, while thin sections more specifically indicate loess soils with local micro-environments.",

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note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Roxana Golan for her work with the SEM, and Mafalda Costa and Dulce Valdez for their assistance in the interpretation of the diffractograms. The research presented in this paper was part of a doctoral dissertation [12], carried out mainly using data collected at Politecnico di Torino, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Universidade de {\'E}vora, as part of H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017, ED-ARCHMAT (ESR7). This project has received funding from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie grant agreement No 766311. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO). All rights reserved.",

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AU - Mirão, José

AU - Bottaini, Carlo

AU - Grassini, Sabrina

AU - Angelini, Emma

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Roxana Golan for her work with the SEM, and Mafalda Costa and Dulce Valdez for their assistance in the interpretation of the diffractograms. The research presented in this paper was part of a doctoral dissertation [12], carried out mainly using data collected at Politecnico di Torino, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Universidade de Évora, as part of H2020-MSCA-ITN-2017, ED-ARCHMAT (ESR7). This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 766311. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 International Measurement Confederation (IMEKO). All rights reserved.

PY - 2022/12

Y1 - 2022/12

N2 - The research presented in this paper focused on the preliminary non- and semi-destructive analysis of copper alloys, corrosion, and soil components from a Roman archaeological site in Israel. Investigations using portable X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy as well as micromorphological analyses were carried out to gain a better understanding of the corrosion processes affecting the copper alloy artefacts, by characterising the alloy composition, soil environments, and corrosion products. Preliminary results indicate that the artefacts consist of copper-lead-tin alloys, covered by copper hydroxy-chlorides and lead sulphate phases with slight variations in their crystallisation. The multi-analytical approach revealed the presence of quartz, calcite, gypsum and feldspars in the sediments, while thin sections more specifically indicate loess soils with local micro-environments.

AB - The research presented in this paper focused on the preliminary non- and semi-destructive analysis of copper alloys, corrosion, and soil components from a Roman archaeological site in Israel. Investigations using portable X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy as well as micromorphological analyses were carried out to gain a better understanding of the corrosion processes affecting the copper alloy artefacts, by characterising the alloy composition, soil environments, and corrosion products. Preliminary results indicate that the artefacts consist of copper-lead-tin alloys, covered by copper hydroxy-chlorides and lead sulphate phases with slight variations in their crystallisation. The multi-analytical approach revealed the presence of quartz, calcite, gypsum and feldspars in the sediments, while thin sections more specifically indicate loess soils with local micro-environments.

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Roman coins at the edge of the Negev: characterisation of copper alloy artefacts and soil from Rakafot 54 (Beer Sheva, Israel)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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