Comparable quantification data : considerations in archaeovitreological analysis. The case study of medieval stained glasses from Lincoln cathedral.

Ivona Posedi (1) , Guilhem Mauran (2) , Melina Smiriou (1) , Tom Küpper , Philippa Hoskin (1)

1 University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
2 HNHP - Histoire naturelle de l'Homme préhistorique

The increasing use of portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) on archaeological/historical glasses has not stressed the importance of the samples and instrument’s chemical and physical restraints. Some of them include size, thickness, surface roughness, heterogeneity, weathering and lack of adequate number of certified reference materials (CRM) with archaeological-like chemical compositions [1]. The latter is crucial in appropriate calibration of the analysis [1]. The aim of this study is to develop a new protocol in archaeovitreological analysis of in situ stained glass windows and glass fragments by means of pXRF. Experiments with masks of different materials with a 2 mm perforation were made to check its feasibility on small glass samples. The samples are medieval stained glass fragments from the Dean’s Eye Rose Window (LC-DR) and panel 4 of the south lancet window 32 (LC-SG32- P4) of the Lincoln Cathedral, England. So far, it seems that the advantage of the mask is in comparable counts per second for both standard glass reference materials and Lincoln stained glass fragments regardless of the size of the sample. This study is the first step in providing more uniform analytical conditions and a standardized calibration reducing the poor comparability of analytical results that originate from different sites. [1] Shugar, A., & Mass, J. (Eds.). (2012). Handheld XRF for Art and Archaeology. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press.

Mots clés: Archaeometry; Archaeovitreology; Medieval; Stained glass; Lincoln cathedral; pXRF

Domaines: Méthodes et statistiques

Ivona Posedi, Guilhem Mauran, Melina Smiriou, Tom Küpper, Philippa Hoskin. Comparable quantification data : considerations in archaeovitreological analysis. The case study of medieval stained glasses from Lincoln cathedral.. 62nd International Symposium of Archaeometry 2018, May 2018, Mérida, Mexico. ⟨hal-02906125⟩