Visualizzazione grafica e archeometallurgia: lingotti da siti etruschi dell'Emilia

Manuela Catarsi Dall'Aglio, Luigi Malnati, Elena Antonacci, Livio Follo

«Archeologia e Calcolatori» 1996, 7, 515-526

Abstract

This project has studied metallic ingots from the Etruria Padana that come from either old excavations and more recent ones. The samples have been studied through chemical-physical structural and metallographic analysis; the process, conducted after years of restoration, leaves no trace on the object, as it concerns only a few milligrams of sample, which usually allows the identification of about 15 elements in the alloy. The sample is taken after accurate weighing and a series of chemical treatments, through its exposure to a strumental analysis through Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. With this type of analysis a qualitative and quantitative measurement of the elements of the alloy is made. The results of the analysis are transferred to tables in Excel; then, through these tables, a series of graphics are produced giving a better opportunity to evaluate the concentration of the most important elements of the alloy. The computer allows us also to organize, in the same table, the study of one or more elements in comparison with the others, in order to give different meanings to the results obtained, by for example, producing a decreasing movement in the concentration of an element; so we obtain some graphics that may better point out the differences. The use of computer graphics permits not only an easy reading of the elements of the alloy, but also better evidence of the differences regarding the composition that are particular to some different classes of metal objects.

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