EDXRF analysis of gold jewelry from the Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Italy

Abstract

Forty-six ancient gold jewelry, known as ‘Ori di Taranto’ and dated in Hellenistic period (VII–VI century bc), were found in Taranto (Southern Italy) and, nowadays, are exhibited in the National Archaeological Museum. These artifacts have never been analyzed, few information are reported in the bibliography, and nothing is known about their chemical composition. The aim of our work is to determine the chemical composition of the alloy and of eventual decorations present on the objects by using non-destructive, non-invasive, and in situ analysis. In particular, the samples were studied by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Most of the analyzed samples show approximately same composition of the alloy (gold, silver, and copper, respectively equal to 96.3 ± 2.0% wt, 2.8 ± 1.9% wt, and 0.9 ± 0.3% wt) except nine samples. Multivariate statistical analysis was carried out in order; to identify possible correlations and/or differences of alloy composition among the analyzed samples. Experimental results obtained could be compared with other jewelry of the same historical period, and therefore, this study can help to understand the type of processing of gold jewelry in the Hellenistic period. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.