INVESTIGATION OF THE CONTENT OF ANCIENT TIBETAN METALLIC BUDDHA STATUES BY MEANS OF NEUTRON IMAGING METHODS

Many important cultural and religious objects from Asia consist of outer metallic shapes, usually bronze, which fully enclose inner contents made of organic materials such as wood, bark, paper, textile, plants and others. Bronze and other metallic materials, such as copper and silver, are generally more transparent to neutrons than to X‐rays. However, organic materials are less transparent to neutrons than to X‐rays and therefore organic materials, enclosed by metallic materials, can be made visible with neutrons. Therefore, neutron imaging (radiography and tomography) was found to be an ideal tool for the inspection of objects that consist of metal outside and organic materials inside. This has been successfully demonstrated here with four metallic Tibetan Buddha statues, providing archaeometry with a powerful new tool. The first successful applications of this novel technique are described in this article. Further possible and useful applications of neutron imaging of cultural objects are outlined.     

NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT BURMESE SILVER COINS WITH A LOW FLUX AMERICIUM/BERYLLIUM NEUTRON SOURCE

Nondestructive neutron activation analysis is by now a well-established technique for the analysis of ancient silver coins. The high activation cross-section of silver for thermal neutrons makes it possible to also use this method with the low neutron fluxes available from an isotopic neutron source. In this case due consideration must be given to minimize the self-shielding effect which is encountered with coins above a few tenths of a millimetre thickness. A simple method for the determination of the silver, copper and gold content in silver coins based on the self-shielding properties of silver alloys of different fineness is described. The method has been found to be useful for the quick routine assay of silver coins for the purpose of their classification. Seventeen ancient Burmese silver coins from three different cultural periods of Burma, and two British coins for comparison have been analyzed by this method.     

QUANTITATIVE RESULTS OF XRF ANALYSIS OF ANCIENT COINS BY MONOCHROMATIC X-RAY EXCITATION

The analysis by XRF applied to old coins is improved by use of monochromatic X-ray excitation of variable energy. In addition the effects of relief and irregular shape are eliminated. A method of absolute quantitative analysis without any reference standard has been set up. Results of the analysis of 52 early Greek and 4 late Roman empire gold coins are reported.     

CHARACTERIZATION OF SAMIAN WARE SHERDS BY MEANS OF NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Neutron activation analysis has been employed for the characterization of Samian ware sherds. The analysed samples were classified in ten groups, seven of which belonged to the Arretine production, according to archaeological evidence. By means of high resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy, 22 elements have been identified and analysed. Compositional characterization was looked for by taking counting rate ratios of different nuclides in the samples. The compositional pattern of the sherds was found to be fairly uniform both for each pot and for each group so that, at least in the examined cases, it can be assumed to be characteristic of a given workshop.     

古波斯钱币述略

古代波斯可分为三个主要时期。第一时期为居鲁士大帝建立的阿黑门尼德王朝( 550BC— 330BC) ,定都苏萨。史界常称为波斯帝国 ;第二时期是帕提亚王朝 ( 2 4 7BC—AD2 2 6 ) ,我国史称“安息”。帕提亚亦算是波斯裔民族 ,但钱币界常把前 1 80年左右兴起的位于两河流域南端 ,和埃兰相近的一个不大的波西斯王朝(PERSIS ,即波斯。为区别起见 ,作“波西斯”)作为波斯的延续。实际上它仅是帕提亚的附庸之一。这个小国到公元 2世纪后 ,逐渐壮大发展成萨桑王朝。所以承前启后 ,从钱币角度来说 ,有相当重要性 ;萨桑王朝(AD2 2 6—AD6 51 )是波…     

THE REMANENT MAGNETIZATION OF ANCIENT STRUCK COINS

Magnetic and other measurements are reported for the Guehenno II Gallo-Roman hoard (56-France) which, amongst several thousand Tetricus antoniniani, contains 275 coins struck with the same dies. The orientation of the remanent magnetization is systematically directed outwards from the obverse confirming the identity of the anvil die with the obverse. The magnetization vector is statistically distributed around the vertical axis giving no indication of the geomagnetic inclination at the time of striking. Consequently ancient struck coins cannot be used for dating. The origin of the remanent magnetization was also investigated.     

中国古代石范铸钱模拟试验研究

石范的出土在我国并不鲜见 ,青铜时代的许多遗址、墓葬中常有诸如刀、凿、锛、鱼、钩、斧、镞、钺、剑等的石范出土 ,质地有所谓砂岩、滑石、片麻岩、千枚岩等。承接传统青铜铸造技术而来的钱币铸造业中 ,石范的出土更多 ,尤其在汉初至汉武帝元鼎四年 (公元前 1 1 3年 ) ,主要使用于半两钱时期。然而 ,对于石范能否用于直接浇注 ,学术界存在不同的看法。一般认为 ,石质范由于透气性差、退让性差 ,又含有结晶水 ,不能用于直接浇注。为了验证这一问题 ,中国钱币博物馆、北京科技大学冶金与材料史研究所、中国人民银行鄂州市中心支行、鄂州市博…     

中国古钱版别研究刍议--兼论宋钱的版别

钱币版别是钱币学研究的主要内容,钱币的真伪和珍稀级别鉴定、鉴赏分类、铸行时代、流通区域的断定等,在一定程度上均以版别为基础。钱币的版别以钱币的形制、钱文、图案、金属成分、铸造技术工艺等为     

THE CHRONOLOGY OF GROUPS OF DIES FOR LARGE ISSUES OF ANCIENT COINS USING MAHALANOBIS DISTANCES*

Discriminant analyses of distances and angles obtained from 25 coins struck by P. Crepusius in 82 BC permitted the correct chronology for five groups of closely-related dies to be obtained by the method of Carter and Frurip. Twenty distances and 15 angles were measured on 10 x projections of the coins which represented five groups of dies separated in time from each other. The use of all or many variables gave poorer results than the use of five to ten variables having a high ‘figure of merit’, defined as the maximum range of mean values for a given variable in the five groups of dies divided by the mean standard deviation of the variable in the five groups. It is recommended that chronologies of ancient coins be determined from Mahalanobis distances by using only variables of relatively high figure of merit.