Abstract
Some new considerations about the characterization of pigments on polychromatic Nasca pottery by the use of PIXE-alpha and XRD nondestructive and in situ techniques are presented. The investigation, in particular, is focused on the compositional study of painted surfaces on selected archaeological Nasca fragments coming from the ceremonial center of Cahuachi in Southern Peru. Quantitative data are also discussed, with the aim of identifying the raw materials. A review of the nondestructive instruments and methods developed at the Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (LNS) of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) and at the Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali (IBAM) of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) is given. In particular, this article revisits the PIXE-alpha (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) system, based on the use of a 210Po radioactive-source-emitting alpha particles, the XRF (X-ray Fluorescence), and the micro XRF and XRD portable spectrometers . It also describes an analytical protocol for fully quantitative data, based on the combined use of the portable PIXE-alpha and XRD nondestructive techniques.
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge Professor G. Pappalardo for useful comments and suggestions and C. Marchetta for the assistance in the estimation of the thickness of thin sections.
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Pappalardo, L., Masini, N., Rizzo, F., Romano, F.P. (2016). The Polychromy of Nasca Pottery: A Nondestructive Analytical Approach for Compositional and Mineralogical Investigation of Pigments. In: Lasaponara, R., Masini, N., Orefici, G. (eds) The Ancient Nasca World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47052-8_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47052-8_24
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