Characterisation and Analysis of Metallic Artefacts from the Pylos Archaeological Museum

Characterisation and Analysis of Metallic Artefacts from the Pylos Archaeological Museum

Blog Article

The present study focuses on the analysis of four unique artefacts, originally recovered from a tomb complex of the Hellenistic period and now displayed at the New Pylos Archaeological Museum, Niokastro fortress of Pylos, Greece (since 2016).The items are rod-shaped, with a length between 5.5 and 14.

6 cm and intricate decorative patterns.The rods were analysed following a multi-technique, non-invasive approach, using optical microscopy, XRF, SEM/EDS and FTIR.The analysis suggests that the three brown rods 2m are made of wrought iron; successive areas of calcite crystal formations are associated with environmental depositions and corrosion defects.

The white rod shows distinctly different chemical characteristics: it is composed of a thick core identified as bone and covered by a thin layer of lead.The combined microscopic, chemical and spectroscopic analysis resulted in the chemical characterisation of the artefacts and thus in a better understanding of their properties.In turn, the analysis has lead to hypotheses for the likely function Votives of these unique artefacts (i.

e.three writing implements and one decorative hinge).