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Multilayered artifacts in the pre-Columbian metallurgy from the North of Peru

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Abstract

Three types of alloys were recognized when analyzing pre-Columbian artifacts from the North of Peru: gold, silver, and copper alloys; gilded copper and silver; silvered copper; tumbaga, i.e., copper or silver enriched on gold at the surface by depletion gilding. In this paper, a method is described to differentiate gold alloys from gilded copper and from copper–gold tumbaga, and silver alloys from silvered copper and copper–silver tumbaga. This method is based on the use of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence, i.e., on a sophisticated analysis of XRF-spectra carrying out an accurate determination of Cu(K α /K β ), Ag(K α /K β ), Au(L α /L β ), and Au-L α /Cu-K α or Ag-K α /Cu-K α ratios. That implies a dedicated software for the quantitative determination of the area of X-ray peaks. This method was first checked by a relevant number of standard samples and then it was applied to pre-Columbian alloys from the North of Peru.

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Notes

  1. In the case of gilding (gilded copper or silver) or tumbaga (Cu–Au or Ag–Au) Au-concentration is respectively sharply or continuously decreasing from the surface; in the case of tumbaga only an “equivalent” thickness can be determined, which would be the Au-thickness producing the observed effects.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by a bilateral project between the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion Tecnologica of Perù (CNR-CONCYTEC, 2009–2011 and 2012–2014).

Dr. Stefano Ridolfi is acknowledged for providing several “Tarì” standard samples of gold alloys, and for useful discussions.

Prof. M. Rizzutto and J. Fabian express their gratitude to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics Abdus Salam, for a 5 months grant at the University of Sassari.

F. Lopes acknowledges CAPES for a 7 months grant at the University of Sassari.

Lorenzo Manetti, of the firm “Giusto Manetti”, Florence, Italy is acknowledged for providing standard gold samples.

Prof. Emma Angelini and Dr. Sabina Grassini from the Polytechnic of Turin are acknowledged for preparing samples of gilded copper with calibrated Au-thickness.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università di Sassari, Sassari, Italy

    Roberto Cesareo

  2. Istituto per lo studio dei materiali nanostrutturati, CNR-Montelibretti, via Salaria km. 29. 5, 00015, Monterotondo, Rome, Italy

    Roberto Cesareo & Gabriel M. Ingo

  3. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru

    Angel D. Bustamante, Julio S. Fabian & Sandra Del Pilar Zambrano

  4. Museo “Tumbas Reales de Sipán”, Lambayeque, Peru

    Walter Alva, Luis Z. Chero, Maria C. Del Carmen Espinoza, Rosendo R. Rodriguez, Marco F. Seclen, Fidel V. Gutierrez, Edgard B. Levano & Juan A. Gonzales

  5. Instituto de Fisica, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Marcia A. Rizzutto

  6. Associacion cultural and Museum Enrico Poli, Lima, Peru

    Enrico Poli

  7. COPPE, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Cristiane Calza, Marcelino Dos Anjos, Renato Pereira De Freitas & Ricardo T. Lopes

  8. Museo de Sicán”, Ferrañafe, Peru

    Carlos Elera, Izumi Shimada & Victor Curay

  9. Istituto Nacional de Cultura, Piura, Peru

    Maria G. Castillo

  10. Dipartimento di Scienze di Base e Applicate, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy

    Giovanni E. Gigante

  11. Universidade de Londrina, Londrina, PA, Brazil

    Fabio Lopes

  12. Museo Larco, Lima, Peru

    Ulla Holmquist & David Diestra

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  1. Roberto Cesareo
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  2. Angel D. Bustamante
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Correspondence to Roberto Cesareo.

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Cesareo, R., Bustamante, A.D., Fabian, J.S. et al. Multilayered artifacts in the pre-Columbian metallurgy from the North of Peru. Appl. Phys. A 113, 889–903 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7738-8

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