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SYNCHROTRON FTIR MICRO‐SPECTROSCOPY APPLIED TO THE STUDY OF POLISHED SERPENTINITE ARTEFACTS: A NON‐DESTRUCTIVE ANALYTICAL APPROACH
Author(s) -
BERNARDINI F.,
EICHERT D.,
LENAZ D.,
DE MIN A.,
TUNIZ C.,
VELUŠČEK A.,
KOKELJ E. MONTAGNARI
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
archaeometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-4754
pISSN - 0003-813X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4754.2010.00580.x
Subject(s) - synchrotron , mineralogy , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , spectroscopy , characterization (materials science) , mineral , synchrotron radiation , materials science , infrared spectroscopy , geology , prehistory , archaeology , optics , chemistry , metallurgy , nanotechnology , physics , paleontology , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , history
In prehistory, serpentinite was one of the most frequently used raw materials to produce polished stone artefacts. Several conventional analytical techniques can be applied to identify the serpentine minerals, but their application generally requires a powdered sample. This implies that the artefacts to be analysed must be damaged, and the possibility of analysing a mixture of different serpentine polytypes is high. The use of spatially resolved techniques is therefore a necessity to overcome this problem. Several thin sections of serpentinitic rocks and prehistoric axes have been analysed by synchrotron radiation Fourier transform infrared micro‐spectroscopy. The spectra were acquired directly on specific points of polished stone artefacts and this allowed the recognition of the different polytypes of serpentine minerals without causing any damage to the objects. The results show the infrared micro‐spectroscopy technique to be a useful tool for the characterization of archaeological lithic material.