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Dating of Archaeological Gold by Means of Solid State Electrochemistry
Author(s) -
DoménechCarbó Antonio,
Scholz Fritz,
DoménechCarbó María Teresa,
PiqueroCilla Joan,
Montoya Noemí,
PasíesOviedo Trinidad,
Gozalbes Manuel,
MelchorMontserrat José Manuel,
Oliver Arturo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemelectrochem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.182
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 2196-0216
DOI - 10.1002/celc.201800435
Subject(s) - radiocarbon dating , archaeological science , archaeology , prehistory , archaeological record , corrosion , materials science , geology , mineralogy , metallurgy , history
In archaeology and history of art, age determination is a fundamental analytical problem. While several techniques for age determination of various materials, like radiocarbon dating, are established, these methods cannot be applied for metals, for which new techniques have to be developed. For the first time a dating method for archaeological gold objects is described which is based on a corrosion clock and electrochemical measurements, using the voltammetry of immobilized particles. Samples are prepared by ‘one touch’ with a graphite pencil, only transferring a few nanograms of the archaeological gold. The method has been calibrated with the help of a series of well‐documented gold specimen from different prehistory museums covering the last 2600 years. Our results prove that this corrosion clock is going on a constant pace, practically independent of the environment, making it most attractive for applications in archaeometry.