Abstract
This work enters in an interdisciplinary research project involving the archaeometrical analysis of ancient silver coins minted in the Greek colony of Taras (the modern south Italian town of Taranto) between the V century BC and the III century BC. In this work, by comparing the results obtained from X-ray microanalysis data acquired from the least corroded surface areas and the cross-section of coins from SEM-EDX and from XRF analysis, we have demonstrated that analysed coins exhibited a corrosion layer no more than 25 μm and that surface silver enrichment was less than 1 wt%. Thus, the data obtained by using X-ray microanalysis from surface may not significantly differ from the original bulk composition. Our results demonstrate that the silver content in the coins decreases considerably ranging from about 97% for the older down to 80% for the ones of 3rd Evans period (300–270 BC), corresponding to the significant social change in the period.
Highlights
The cooperation between analytical physicists and numismatists is in expansion because they are confronted with problems that traditional methods of numismatics cannot solve
By comparing the results obtained from X-ray microanalysis data acquired from the least corroded surface areas and the crosssection of coins from scanning electron microscopy (SEM)-energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX) and from X-ray fluorescence analysis (XRF) analysis, we have demonstrated that analysed coins exhibited a corrosion layer no more than 25 μm and that surface silver enrichment was less than 1 wt%
In this paper we have analysed forty-five ancient coins coming from collection of the National Museum of Taranto, minted by the Greek colony of Taras, between the V century BC and the III century BC
Summary
The cooperation between analytical physicists and numismatists is in expansion because they are confronted with problems that traditional methods of numismatics cannot solve. There are three separate areas of interest where cooperation can take place between the scientist and numismatist: (1) results of analysis for major components may provide information on the minting technology of the period [1, 2] and may help in studies of economical development [3]; (2) the determination of the minor and trace elements can give suggestions regarding the provenance of the metal used [4,5,6,7,8,9,10] or contamination introduced during manufacture; (3) microscopic examination may yield important information regarding the type of metallurgical processes used during the manufacture of coins [1].
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