The application and use of non-destructive portable x-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis is a critical tool in the preservation and interpretation of cultural material. Portable XRF instrumentation produce elemental compositional data that is used to reconstruct current artifact composition, which can be related to materials and methods of manufacture, technological practice, as well as object condition and presence of corrosion surfaces. Portable XRF analysis is used to assess a variety of material classes utilized in artifact manufacture. The dissertation research is based on a series of three case studies that represent typical groups of material culture commonly encountered in conservation and conservation science research.Conservators and conservation scientists frequently undertake analysis and interpretation of disparate groups of materials. Often, these objects are tied together by research questions or themes directed by outside influences including preservation issues requiring action; curatorial research interests; museum exhibition programs; as well as many other cultural heritage stakeholders. To this end, both non-destructive and destructive tools that provide measurements of interest play critical roles in analysis. The case studies have been designed to answer common compositional questions relating to (a) bulk analysis of Chinese coins, (b) characterization of Southwestern ceramic colorants, and, (c) chemical examination of post-depositional manganese dioxide accretions occurring on archaeological ceramic materials. They evaluate the value of data produced using effectiveness of non-destructive portable XRF analysis for the interpretation of archaeological materials. The case studies provide a template for the development of conservation science research, predicated on object preservation, which produce meaningful data for the interpretation and conservation of the analyzed archaeological artifacts. Portable XRF provides useful data that is used to successfully interpret archaeological materials through (a) classification of metal alloys that can be related to published coin data, (b) identification of ceramic colorants and production technologies, and, (c) characterization of post-depositional product composition when used with established visual typologies.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

This study was conducted to investigate the urban geochemistry of the city of Windsor (Ontario) and to provide added source apportionment information to work being carried out by the Canadian government. The goal of this study was to investigate the distribution, spatial variation and sources of manganese in urban Windsor soil. The literature indicates that human exposure to high levels of manganese, via inhalation, can cause respiratory and/or neurological effects. At the outset of the present study it was first hypothesized that vehicular traffic was the dominant source of anthropogenic manganese. An alternative hypothesis was that there were multiple anthropogenic sources of manganese in Windsor. The sample collection scheme was designed to determine (1) the current and background soil concentrations of manganese in Windsor, (2) the spatial distribution of manganese in order to reveal sources of manganese, and (3) the manganese content of moss-sequestered airborne particles, which can potentially deposit onto the soil surface, using low-technology biomonitoring. The first phase of the study consisted of a preliminary soil survey which identified elevated areas of soil manganese concentrations. During this survey, the field efficiency of a field portable X-ray fluorescence (FPXRF) instrument, as well as sample preparation methods were evaluated. Efficiency of the FPXRF was determined by comparison to ICP-MS, a traditional trace element analysis method. The preliminary soil survey identified several areas of elevated (ranging from 884 to 2390 ppm) soil manganese which were further investigated during the second, more complete, soil survey. The moss biomonitoring technique of using moss bags was used to collect airborne particles for semi-quantitative analysis. Analysis of soil samples included total manganese and other trace elements, pH, moisture and carbon content, and manganese speciation. Urban Windsor soil manganese distribution revealed both natural and anthropogenic sources of soil manganese and three distinct soil sample types, transect, baseline and natural. In general, manganese in Windsor had a west-to-east trend of decreasing levels in soil and moss-sequestered airborne particles. The latter showed a modern-day elemental signature while the former (collocated soil) a legacy elemental signature. It was concluded that both the FPXRF instrument and the moss biomonitoring technique can be useful screening tools in studies of urban environments.

This dissertation consists of three articles that develop and implement geoarchaeological approaches to the study of hominin biogeography in the Greek islands, a region that may have played a key role during the initial peopling of southeastern Europe in the Middle to Late Pleistocene (770 – 13 ka). The first article addresses the need to find Palaeolithic sites in the Greek islands by reviewing geoarchaeologically informed archaeological surveys that prioritize deposits – Pleistocene sediments and soils – on mainland Greece. I operationalize and implement a four-phase approach for future deposit-centered surveys in the islands. I conclude that future surveys should target geomorphic settings conducive to paleosol preservation, such as in near-shore coastal areas (e.g., uplifted hillslopes and actively eroding alluvial fans) marked by paleo-sea-level-indicators (sea notches, marine terraces, and aeolianites), as well as sediment depo-centers (e.g., internally drained basins) in non-coastal geomorphic settings. The second article develops and employs a multiscalar geoarchaeological approach for investigating and interpreting complex hillslope formation processes at the newly excavated Palaeolithic site of Stelida, located on the island of Naxos, Greece. Here, I integrate traditional geoarchaeological methods (lithostratigraphy, pedostratigraphy, allostratigraphy) with microarchaeological techniques, such as thin-section soil micromorphology and portable x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF) to separate sediments and soils aiding in the construction of a stratigraphic framework for Stelida.The third article further develops the method of integrating pXRF and soil micromorphology applied at the site-specific scale. In this article, I developed an Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) method for visualizing geochemistry-facies relationships through the application of pXRF to a resin-impregnated block sample preserving an Archaic (seventh century BCE) ash midden (eschara) from the site of Kalopodi, Greece.This dissertation addresses a primary research effort in Greece’s Aegean Basin (Greek islands): the search for and study of Palaeolithic archaeology dating to Middle and Late Pleistocene. Geoarchaeologically informed research designs, such as deposit-centered surveys in open-air environments, can increase Palaeolithic site inventories for the region by focusing on finding geomorphic settings conducive to paleosol preservation. Moreover, the multi-scalar geoarchaeological approaches here, which integrate sedimentology, pedology, micromorphology, and geochemistry, provide an effective approach for the identification and compositional (mineralogic and geochemical) study of paleosols within those settings.

This study assessed ways compositional analysis, facilitated by portable X-ray fluorescence technology (PXRF), can be applied in the museum setting to resolve provenance issues and other collections management questions. A major segment of the study evaluated PXRF as a non-invasive geochemical analysis technique to address concerns about whether the resolution of results is sufficient to draw meaningful conclusions. Compositional analysis, mainly facilitated by PXRF, was successfully applied to three clay artifact collections from the southwestern United States. Pottery sherds from Fourmile Ruin were analyzed using PXRF and compared to analyses from invasive wavelength-dispersive XRF and X-ray diffraction techniques. Expanding the data associated with the artifacts increases the collection's research value. The results of hierarchical clustering suggest further compositional analysis of Fourmile Ruin ceramics to verify this study's conclusions and evaluate current assumptions regarding where certain wares are produced. The iconic Pilling figurine collection was analyzed using scanning electron microscopy and PXRF to evaluate the authenticity of a figurine that had been returned after being lost for forty years. The geochemical tests confirmed the results from the basketry-imprint analysis that the returned figurine was the missing figurine, allowing the museum to restore the artifact's provenance. A pot being offered as a potential donation was analyzed using PXRF to evaluate if there was evidence of forgery or previous repair and help the museum decide whether or not to accept the donation. The study concluded the vessel has not been constructed or partially reconstructed using plaster of Paris. If the vessel has been constructed or partially reconstructed using pieced-together pottery sherds, they all came from a similar clay source. Based on these results, the museum decided to accept the pot as a donation. This study demonstrates the viability of PXRF as a useful geochemical research technique, particularly in cases where higher resolution invasive and destructive analysis techniques are not permitted. It establishes that PXRF can be used to authenticate and restore provenance both within a collection of objects and within a single object. Compositional analysis facilitated by PXRF can be a valuable tool in museum collections management and research.

The large public plazas of the ancient Maya were likely swept clear of debris and durable artifacts that could have provided evidence of the ancient anthropogenic activities. However, geochemical residues of food or mineral ores and pigments became affixed to soil and floor particles. These particles chemically bound so that natural movement of water is insufficient to cause them to move, leaving invisible geochemical signatures of ancient activities. This line of study is focused on the relationship between the geospatial distribution of element concentrations and ancient human activities using current laboratory techniques and isopleths, or chemical concentration contour maps, to identify activity areas. Surface samples were collected from ancient plazas at the sites of Kiuic and Sayil in the Puuc Hills of Yucatan and at the site of Caracol Belize. Mehlich II and DTPA extraction procedures were used to determine the elemental concentrations of P, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn. Total elemental levels of additional elements were determined by portable X-ray fluorescence. The objective was to discover geochemical evidence of economic exchange activities at these important site centers. The Kuche Plaza at Kiuic produced evidence of ancient food storage, consumption, or trade activities but such evidence was lacking from the largest open space at the site. The Mirador group at Sayil failed to produce compelling evidence of any market activities. In the Conchita plaza at Caracol there are significant chemical signatures of human activities including evidence of ancient food storage, consumption, or trade activities and evidence of workshop activities potentially including the use production or trade of pigments. Our results from the Conchita plaza suggest ancient marketplace activity, and a geospatial division for the use of the Conchita plaza at Caracol.

Imitation of archeological artifacts or replacing the authentic ones with fake replicates is a universal problem / it is particularly important in Turkey for historical metal objects. Traditionally used visual inspection methods alone are not sufficient for the solution of contemporary problems. In this study, chemical characterization has been used to determine the differences between the authentic and fake objects. The non-destructive analyses were carried out by Portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (P-XRF). Silver Roman Coins (27 B.C. to 244 A.D.) were the objects handled in this research. In particular the concentrations of Zr, Pt, Pb and Bi were used for differentiation / it has been observed that the concentrations have different trends in the authentic and fake silver coins. In authentic coins the average Pb concentration was found to be 0.77%, while this value was 0.055% for the fake ones. Bi could be determined in 86% of the authentic coins while it could not be detected in any fake coin. It has been generally observed that the silver and copper concentrations could not be utilized in authenticity tests. Another approach was the use of Line Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (LSEM-EDX). Using LSEM-EDX technique, it was observed that the concentration changes near the interface between the matrix and the copper-rich locations exhibits difference behaviors for the authentic and fake objects. This difference is originated by the fact that a newly formed copper amalgam contains copper-rich phases while with extended time concentration changes at interfaces become more gradual or not detectable. Pearson correlation was used in order to elucidate the relations between the element concentrations determined by P-XRF. In order to see whether the authentic and silver fake coins can form separate groups, dendograms have been constructed utilizing SPSS 16.0 software and Euclidian Square Distance method. It has been observed that the authentic and fake coins can be successfully grouped when the proper statistical choices are used. It has been observed that these groups have significant differences using t-test. The selected and used technology is proposed for use by museums and entities keeping archaeological collections in order to prevent forgeries.

ABSTRACT DIFFERENTIATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF COUNTERFEIT AND REAL COINS BY APPLYING STATISTICAL METHODS Tansel, I&ccedil / ten M.Sc, Archaeometry Graduate Program Supervisor : Assist. Prof. Dr. Zeynep Isil Kalaylioglu Co-Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Sahinde Demirci June 2012, 105 pages In this study, forty coins which were obtained from Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (MAC) in Ankara were investigated. Some of those coins were real (twenty two coins) and the remaining ones (eighteen coins) were fake coins. Forty coins were Greek coins which were dated back to middle of the fifth century BCE and reign of Alexander the Great (323 &ndash / 336 BCE). The major aims of this study can be summarized as follow