Jewellery Collection Research Articles

Balancing Your Duty to the Patient, Community

Balancing Your Duty to the Patient, Community

A compositional study of a museum jewellery collection (7th–1st BC) by means of a portable XRF spectrometer

Within the framework of the project “Jewelmed” (ICA3-1999-10020), the chemical composition of 34 gold and four silver jewels was examined. These jewels belong to the Benaki museum's collection in Athens, Greece and are dating from the 7th to the 1st century BC. The compositional analysis of the jewels was performed by means of a “home-made” portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer. The XRF results have shown that the gold jewels can be categorized in two groups, which include artifacts made by native and by high purity gold, respectively. For the silver jewels the results have provided interesting information regarding the manufacturing technology, the authenticity of the jewels and the raw materials used. The potential and the limitations of the XRF technique, applied in the chemical analysis of archaeological metal artifacts, are also discussed.

Three Seventh-Century B. C. E. Hoards of Silver Jewelry from Tel Miqne-Ekron

Three silver jewelry hoards dated to the seventh century B.C.E. were found at Tel Miqne-Ekron during the 1985, 1988, and 1992 excavation seasons. These hoards are important for three reasons. First, no other local late Iron Age jewelry collection is as securely dated as the Ekron hoards, which make them a basis for evaluating other, less securely dated jewelry finds from the first millennium B.C.E. Second, the contents of the hoards and the context in which they were found can help to define their function. The 1985 and 1988 hoards are composed primarily of broken or damaged silver jewelry along with cut silver (Hacksilber) pieces, while the 1992 cache contains mostly intact jewelry items. A study of the composition and character of these collections suggests that the 1985 and 1988 hoards were probably currency hoards, while the 1992 cache may have been a jeweler's inventory or a private hoard of valuable objects. Finally, such a large and securely dated collection of silver jewelry is of great importance for understanding the late Iron Age jeweler's craft and the cultural influences prevalent at Tel Miqne-Ekron during the seventh century B.C.E. The style of the silverwork shows strong Phoenician influence, while a few pieces also exhibit Neo-Assyrian characteristics.

Legacy for the Long Haul

Unlike great-grandma’s jewelry collection, which can be replaced with shiny new trinkets, the legacy inheritance is not a static set of unusable systems easily replaced with trendy new technology. The core data contained in legacy systems makes the legacy inheritance a permanent part of the IT future and an asset that IT professionals must proactively manage.