Scientific Research on Materials and Techniques for ancient Gold and Silver Objects

黄金自古以来就受到世界各国的推崇，因为它具有独特的颜色，不易被腐蚀。当然，在古代日本，它对古人来说是一种特殊的金属；但在古方时期之前，它一直是非常稀有的。在日本出土的古代金面金属器物大多是由铜或铜合金制成的。它们的表面都经过了镀金处理，特别是金银汞合金的火焰镀金，以获得辉煌的外观。用X射线荧光分析仪和扫描电子显微镜对日本出土的一些古代金银制品进行了观察。古代金器中的金成分为17-23K，必须根据用途选择合适的成分。日本出土的大部分古代银器都使用了纯度超过92%的银。结果表明，采用银钎焊作为焊接工艺。

Gold has been admired from the ancient time in all over the world, because it has the characteristic color and is not easily corroded. In ancient Japan, of course, it was the special metal to the ancient people ; but, it had been very rare until the Kofun period. Most of ancient metal objects with gold surface, which were excavated in Japan, were fabricated from copper or copper alloys. Their surfaces were treated by gilding, especially by fire gilding with gold amalgam for obtaining brilliant appearance. Some ancient gold and silver objects excavated in Japan were examined with a X-ray fluorescence analyzer and a scanning electron microscope. The gold composition in ancient gold objects was 17-23K.The suitable composition must have been selected depending on the purpose. Silver of over 92% purify was used for most ancient silver objects excavated in Japan. It was revealed silver brazing was utilized as the jointing technique.