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The LABEC laboratory, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage, located in the Scientific and Technological Campus of the University of Florence in Sesto Fiorentino, started its operational activities in 2004, after INFN decided in 2001 to provide our applied nuclear physics group with a large laboratory dedicated to applications of accelerator-related analytical techniques, based on a new 3 MV Tandetron accelerator. The new accelerator greatly improved the performance of existing Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) applications (for which we were using since the 1980s an old single-ended Van de Graaff accelerator) and in addition allowed to start a novel activity of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), in particular for 14C dating. Switching between IBA and AMS operation became very easy and fast, which allowed us high flexibility in programming the activities, mainly focused on studies of cultural heritage and atmospheric aerosol composition, but including also applications to biology, geology, material science and forensics, ion implantation, tests of radiation damage to components, detector performance tests and low-energy nuclear physics. This paper describes the facilities presently available in the LABEC laboratory, their technical features and some success stories of recent applications.

The X‐Ray Fluorescence (XRF) scanning spectrometer developed in the framework of Cultural Heritage Network ‐ National Institute of Nuclear Physics, is specifically customised for cultural heritage applications, designed with a focus on having a lightweight scanner (weighing approximately 10 kg), easy to handle and thus easily transportable in two medium‐sized boxes. The research presented here deals with the study of a set of choir books preserved in the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore on the homonymous island in Venice. Produced for the Abbey itself from the mid‐15th century onwards, the manuscripts have never left the island, making the study of the materials of particular interest as they have undergone little or no modification over time. During their history in the Abbey, however, the volumes have been disassembled and reassembled in various ways, bringing complexity to the current cataloguing work. Thus, analytical investigations of the pigments and painting techniques might help identify the original arrangement of displaced leaves and provide evidence for the attribution of individual illuminations to certain artists. Thanks to its easy transportability, it was possible to take the scanner to the small island by means of the water‐based Venetian public transport. Selected results are presented, derived from the high‐quality MA‐XRF maps obtained.

ABSTRACT. A series of samples for radiocarbon dating were collected in 2005 from the Biblioteca Magliabechiana archaeological excavation area in the center of Florence, Italy, in a project directed by the Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti of the University of Siena, in cooperation with the Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e per il Paesaggio per le province di Firenze e Prato. This area is located near the Uffizi Galleries, close to the Roman town, the Arno River and one of its former tributaries. The area is peculiar for the Florentine urban context because it was free from urban development until the 12th century AD. The exposed stratigraphy showed the presence of several layers composed of natural sediments, partly the result of historical floods. Here, we report a series of 14 C measurements on charcoal and seed samples collected on this excavation. 14 C dating has been performed in the LAB EC laboratory in Florence, on the accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) beam line of the AMS-IBA 3MV Tandetron accelerator. We also had the opportunity to compare the I4 C dates obtained with several series of samples previously collected in nearby archaeological areas. Results were consistent with the data obtained previously and, moreover, offer interesting new aspects to the interpretation of the archaeological findings.

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