Fengyan Zhao, Manli Sun, Peixun Li, Antonella Scherillo, Francesco Grazzi, Winfried Kockelmann, Fei Guo, Chen Wu, Yanpeng Wang
{"title":"Revealing the manufacturing and corrosion characteristics of Chinese archaeological metal arrows by non-destructive neutron techniques","authors":"Fengyan Zhao, Manli Sun, Peixun Li, Antonella Scherillo, Francesco Grazzi, Winfried Kockelmann, Fei Guo, Chen Wu, Yanpeng Wang","doi":"10.1007/s12520-024-01957-y","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The manufacturing and corrosion properties of metal artefacts are significant for archaeologists and conservators. In this study, non-destructive neutron-based techniques are applied on ancient copper-iron arrows. The archaeological samples were excavated from a Western Han tomb (202 BC - AD 8) near the Han Chang’an city site (the capital of Western Han dynasty) in China. This is the first time that the combination of neutron resonance capture analysis, neutron diffraction, neutron tomography, and Raman spectroscopy has been used in Chinese cultural heritage to obtain useful information about the arrows. The results indicate that one arrowhead is made of low-Sn, high-Pb bronze, while the other is composed of high-Sn, low-Pb bronze. These analyses also reveal the production method of these arrows, with the iron tangs likely being cast first and then connected to bronze arrowheads through casting. Furthermore, due to the variations in materials used, certain parts of the arrows were more susceptible to corrosion than others; specifically, those made of pure iron were more prone to corrosion than their bronze counterparts. Additionally, it is confirmed that the iron inside the arrowhead corroded less than the visible iron tang at its base. The corrosion products include cuprite, goethite, hematite, magnetite, cerussite, azurite, malachite and lepidocrocite. These findings are highly beneficial for understanding the making techniques, as well as conservation state and corrosion products associated with archaeological arrows.</p>","PeriodicalId":8214,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-024-01957-y","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The manufacturing and corrosion properties of metal artefacts are significant for archaeologists and conservators. In this study, non-destructive neutron-based techniques are applied on ancient copper-iron arrows. The archaeological samples were excavated from a Western Han tomb (202 BC - AD 8) near the Han Chang’an city site (the capital of Western Han dynasty) in China. This is the first time that the combination of neutron resonance capture analysis, neutron diffraction, neutron tomography, and Raman spectroscopy has been used in Chinese cultural heritage to obtain useful information about the arrows. The results indicate that one arrowhead is made of low-Sn, high-Pb bronze, while the other is composed of high-Sn, low-Pb bronze. These analyses also reveal the production method of these arrows, with the iron tangs likely being cast first and then connected to bronze arrowheads through casting. Furthermore, due to the variations in materials used, certain parts of the arrows were more susceptible to corrosion than others; specifically, those made of pure iron were more prone to corrosion than their bronze counterparts. Additionally, it is confirmed that the iron inside the arrowhead corroded less than the visible iron tang at its base. The corrosion products include cuprite, goethite, hematite, magnetite, cerussite, azurite, malachite and lepidocrocite. These findings are highly beneficial for understanding the making techniques, as well as conservation state and corrosion products associated with archaeological arrows.
期刊介绍:
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences covers the full spectrum of natural scientific methods with an emphasis on the archaeological contexts and the questions being studied. It bridges the gap between archaeologists and natural scientists providing a forum to encourage the continued integration of scientific methodologies in archaeological research.
Coverage in the journal includes: archaeology, geology/geophysical prospection, geoarchaeology, geochronology, palaeoanthropology, archaeozoology and archaeobotany, genetics and other biomolecules, material analysis and conservation science.
The journal is endorsed by the German Society of Natural Scientific Archaeology and Archaeometry (GNAA), the Hellenic Society for Archaeometry (HSC), the Association of Italian Archaeometrists (AIAr) and the Society of Archaeological Sciences (SAS).