Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry: A New Tool for Provenance-Based Research in Archaeology

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With National Science Foundation support, Dr. Michael D. Glascock and his team at the University of Missouri-Columbia will purchase the components necessary to assemble a portable X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer. This state-of-the-art instrument will use a miniature X-ray tube and a high-precision, thermoelectrically-cooled detector. Routine non-destructive analysis of archaeological materials for provenance determination will be possible on samples larger than 1 cm in diameter. When used with a specially-designed collimator, the potential of analyzing smaller samples will also be investigated. The portable XRF will permit rapid, low-cost, multi-elemental characterizations of archaeological materials outside the traditional laboratory setting. Given the instrument's relatively small size and the fact that radiation is produced only when the instrument is operating, this equipment can be transported without government permits. Many of the research questions in archaeology are concerned with the movement of materials through trade and exchange. Elemental characterization data offer a means of determining the origins of archaeological materials providing information to investigate different models of exchange. Greater access to reliable low-cost methods of chemical analysis is desirable and with the success of this research will be possible in the future. As a first step in implementing this instrument for widespread use in archaeology, we will develop analytical protocols for characterizing obsidian, pottery, pigments, synthetic glasses, and sediments. After calibration and development of analytical protocols and standards, we anticipate using the portable XRF to analyze artifacts in museums, in classrooms, and at archaeological sites. The broader impact of the portable XRF will be to make chemistry-based provenance determinations a more routine part of archaeological research. By bringing the analytical equipment to the archaeologist, to the museum curator, or even to the general public, the portable XRF will provide greater opportunities for teaching archaeological science.