DETECTING FORGERIES AMONG ANCIENT GOLD OBJECTS USING THE U,Th–4He DATING METHOD* |
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Authors: | O EUGSTER J KRAMERS U KRÄHENBÜHL |
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Institution: | 1. Physics Institute, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;2. Institute for Geology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland;3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland |
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Abstract: | Forgeries of ancient gold objects are prevalent in almost every collection and some public exhibitions in the past have been exposed as containing forgeries to an embarrassing extent. This situation comes from the fact that it is sometimes impossible to unequivocally recognize forgeries based on their patina or manufacturing and decoration characteristics. We demonstrate that for 13 ancient gold objects the time of their last melting process can be estimated using the U,Th–4He dating technique. The extremely small quantities of radiogenic 4He found, due to the young age and small sample size, require the use of a specially designed ultrasensitive mass spectrometer. We show that the proposed method is a powerful, and the only, quantitative tool in archaeometry for discriminating between fake and genuine ancient gold objects. |
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Keywords: | URANIUM/THORIUM – HELIUM DATING HELIUM IN GOLD URANIUM IN GOLD FORGERIES OF GOLD OBJECTS MASS SPECTROMETRY KING CHILDEBERT AFGHANISTAN SCYTHIA BALKAN BLACK SEA |
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