The task of identifying the provenance of archeological objects is often called "fingerprinting". Amongst the evidence currently used are chemical and isotopic compositions. In contrast to human fingerprints, which according to present forensic knowledge are unique, archeometric fingerprinting is not yet able to identify with certainty the source(s). Exclusion is more decisive than inclusion: according to archeometric arguments an artifact can be certainly incompatible with a number of sources, but can be possibly compatible with a number of others. A judicious combination of several chemical and isotopic indicators can vastly reduce the number of ambiguous assignments and may ultimately lead to a very successful archeological tool.

Villa, I. (2016). Provenancing bronze: exclusion, inclusion, uniqueness, and Occam's razor. In G. Grupe, G.C. McGlynn (a cura di), Isotopic landscapes in Bioarcheology (pp. 141-154). Heidelberg : Springer [10.1007/978-3-662-48339-8].

Provenancing bronze: exclusion, inclusion, uniqueness, and Occam's razor

VILLA, IGOR MARIA
2016

Abstract

The task of identifying the provenance of archeological objects is often called "fingerprinting". Amongst the evidence currently used are chemical and isotopic compositions. In contrast to human fingerprints, which according to present forensic knowledge are unique, archeometric fingerprinting is not yet able to identify with certainty the source(s). Exclusion is more decisive than inclusion: according to archeometric arguments an artifact can be certainly incompatible with a number of sources, but can be possibly compatible with a number of others. A judicious combination of several chemical and isotopic indicators can vastly reduce the number of ambiguous assignments and may ultimately lead to a very successful archeological tool.
Capitolo o saggio
Bronze, provenance fingerprinting, Pb isotope analyses
English
Isotopic landscapes in Bioarcheology
Grupe, G; McGlynn, GC
2016
978-3-662-48338-1
Springer
141
154
Villa, I. (2016). Provenancing bronze: exclusion, inclusion, uniqueness, and Occam's razor. In G. Grupe, G.C. McGlynn (a cura di), Isotopic landscapes in Bioarcheology (pp. 141-154). Heidelberg : Springer [10.1007/978-3-662-48339-8].
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/149886
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