Mössbauer spectroscopy of Greek ‘Etruscan’ pottery

Abstract

WE present here an analysis of the iron compounds in both the core and surface ‘gloss’ of a sherd of Greek ‘Etruscan’ black glazed pottery, using both scattering and absorption techniques. The Mossbauer effect1 is used to measure the magnetic hyperfine splitting, determined by the overall magnetic properties and the isomer shift and quadrupole splitting, which are related to the oxidation state and site symmetry at the Mossbauer site. Mossbauer measurements are particularly effective for structures containing iron, even in finely divided form, and are non destructive.