Archaeomineralogy of Ancient Nonferrous Metallurgy Pieces of the Perm Region: Experience of Usage of Electron Microprobe Analysis
A series of archaeological features has been studied by means of the scanning electronic microscopy. It was shown that due to the oxidation process, the surface layer is enriched with some elements, which were present at unaltered metal (Ag, Pb) and those included later (As, Zn, Pb). It imposes meaningful limitation for use of the X-ray fluorescence and spectral analysis, which allow obtaining only total (patina + metal) composition. Sixteen minerals (oxides, carbonates, sulphates, chlorides, phosphates, sul fides and native phases) are established in patina composition. Tin bronze structure contains the impurities, which may be an evidence of import to Perm Region of tin and silver possibly from Altai, tin and lead possibly from Karelia during "harinsky" and "rodanovsky" cultures respectively. Various composition of the alloys used for casting and filigree witnesses that ancient metallurgists had known about alloys handling. The presence of barium and fluorine can tell us about composition of the used furnace-charge. The obtained data may be the basis for chemical-metallurgical typification of pieces from nonferrous (and noble) metals.