Recent Achievements in NAA, PAA, XRF, IBA and AMS Applications for Cultural Heritage Investigations at Nuclear Physics Institute, Řež

Abstract

Five case studies are reported on the use of neutron and photon activation analysis (NAA and PAA, respectively), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, ion beam analysis (IBA), and accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for the elemental characterization or dating of various objects of cultural heritage, such as building materials, pottery, metallic artefacts, ancient decorations, or the remains of historical personalities. The use of the individual techniques or their combination proved a useful, frequently indispensable tool for revealing the provenance of the artefacts, the method and time of their manufacturing, the elucidation of ancient human activities, or the verification of various hypotheses or legends related to the artefacts.

Keywords

• neutron activation analysis
• photon activation analysis
• X-ray fluorescence analysis
• ion beam analysis
• accelerator mass spectrometry
• cultural heritage