Obsidian provenance studies of Transylvania's Neolithic tools using PIXE, micro-PIXE and XRF

The use of SEM-EDS, PIXE and EDXRF for obsidian provenance studies in the Near East: a case study from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Anatolia)

“…Finally, we are confident that these analyses demonstrate that PIXE is a technique capable of unambiguously sourcing obsidians in an Anatolian/Near Eastern context (see also Abbès et al, 2003), alongside such established but partially destructive methods as ICP-MS/-AES, LA-ICP-MS, NAA and Fission Track Dating (Gomez et al, 1995;Bigazzi et al, 1998;Gratuze, 1999;Abbès et al, 2003;Carter et al, 2006 inter alia). While this research group's work represents the first applications of this method in an East Mediterranean context, it should be noted that PIXE has already been successfully employed for the sourcing of archaeological obsidians in Australasian, Mesoamerican, South American, Transylvanian and West Mediterranean contexts (Summerhayes et al, 1998;Bellot-Gurlet et al, 1999;Constantinescu et al, 2002;Lugliè et al, 2007;Rivero-Torres et al, 2008).…”

X-rays for Archaeology

“…A Canberra GL0110P -Low Energy Germanium Detector (100 mm2 area, 10 mm thickness, 0.075 mm Be window thickness, energy resolution 160 eV FWHM at 5.9 keV, 500 eV FWHM at 122 keV), oriented perpendicularly to the proton beam direction recorded the X-ray spectrum. We routinely used a 0.8 mm diameter beam and a constant proton dose, each acquisition taking roughly 20 min [Constantinescu B., 2002].…”

PIXE analysis of obsidian tools from radiocarbon dated archaeological contexts

“…In particular the possibility to perform analysis by combining PIXE and PIGE gives the opportunity to have information about both light elements (F, Na, Li, Al, Si, B), by PIGE and heavy elements (Cl, K, Ca, Ti, V, Mn, Fe, Zn, Ga, As, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr), by PIXE, in external mode without any sample preparation [12][13][14].…”