Abstract
Chemical (elemental and isotopic) analysis is a basic tool in provenance, as well as in conservation studies of historical glass. In addition to the widely applied Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA), X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (XRF) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), the less known Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis (PGAA) is a powerful method for investigating fragments of or entire glass objects. In 2004, we have initiated a research project with the purpose of investigating the elemental compositions of historical glass objects which were unearthed in Poland. PGAA and EPMA were applied for quantitative analysis of major components, as well as of some minor elements. The non-destructive feature of PGAA, as well as its very low (0.3 μg g−1) detection limit for boron is highly valuable in the context of this project, as we already discussed in Kasztovszky et al. (2005). The boron concentration can provide important technological information for glass archaeometry. However, it is very difficult to detect trace element levels by the use of traditional non-destructive methods. In this respect, PGAA seems to be a complementary tool to the other analytical methods already well known and used in glass archaeometry.
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