XAS Applications in Arts & Archaeology

On-going Research involving a World Heritage Site in Louisiana

 

poverty point objects

PPOs - Poverty Point Objects:

  • What are these objects used for?

  • Where to the materials come from?

  • How were they made?

Poverty Point is a prehistoric earthworks and a World Heritage Site located in Pioneer, LA.  3,000 years ago it was a site of human activities and the objects pictured above have been found there.  XAS is currently being used to uncover the source of these objects and to our surprising the source of the material to make them is likely in Florida.  This indicates that even in those times some form of trade flourished.

Glasses from a medieval cathedral in Germany

  • Where do the materials come from?
  • What elements were used for the coloring?

photo: Figure 1: Photographs of the four colored glass samples (named: Sample 11, 13, 15a and 15b) investigated in this study on glasses from the Cathedral of Paderborn, Germany.

Figure 1: Photographs of the four colored glass samples (named: Sample 11, 13, 15a and 15b) investigated in this study on glasses from the Cathedral of Paderborn, Germany.

photo: Fig. 2: Fig. 6 Pb M5-XANES spectra of lead references and colored glass samples: (a) PbO, (b) PbCO3, (c) PbCl2, (d) sample 11, (e) sample 15a, (f) PbSO4

Fig. 2: Fig. 6 Pb M5-XANES spectra of lead references and colored glass samples: (a) PbO, (b) PbCO3, (c) PbCl2, (d) sample 11, (e) sample 15a, (f) PbSO4