Scientific and Technical Applications

In the period of this report from 2014-2020, there have been four main trends. The first is research into improving methods and methodology for analysing coins in order to tackle different questions and especially provenance of metals. This latter research has seen the intensified use of combined elemental and isotopic analysis. It is driven by general acceptance that geolocating silver ore sources can only be done reliably by isotopic analysis using mainly MC-ICP-MS (Multicollector-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry). However, elemental analysis can help determine if a set of coins could belong to the same metallic stock and in addition it can contribute useful information about the composition of coins and the technology used to make them. Part of the trend is experimentation with a wide range of analytical techniques and applications investigating the potential information to be derived from specific elements and isotopes, and about manufacturing techniques by metallography or hardness test. The second trend has been the wide application of a suite of analytical methods to individual coinages from their inception through to modern times. The third trend has been the investigation of coin manufacture and detection of forgeries. The fourth trend has been more deliberate aggregation of teams of archaeometallurgists, geologists, geochemists, numismatists, archaeologists and historians for solving numismatic, archaeological and historical problems. This has been made possible through major grants especially from the European Research Commission and the work of university-based institutes and state agencies such as France’s CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique). Other methods in the analytical repertoire used in this report include: CT (Computed Tomography); EPMA (Electron Probe Microanalysis); EDX (Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy); FNAA (Fast Neutron Activation Analysis); GRT (Gamma Ray Transmission); ICP-AES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry); LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry); µXRF (Micro X-ray Fluorescence); negative muons; neutron imaging; PAA (Proton Activation Analysis); PGAA (Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis); PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission); pXRF (portable XRF); RBS (Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry); SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy); SG (Specific Gravity); SR-WD-XRF (Synchrotron Radiation Induced WDXRF); TOF-ND (Time-of-Flight Neutron Diffraction); TOF-SIMS (Time-of-Flight Secondary-Ion Mass Spectrometry); WDXRF (Wavelength-Dispersive XRF).

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