NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS OF SIXTEENTH‐ AND SEVENTEENTH‐CENTURY EUROPEAN BLUE GLASS TRADE BEADS FROM THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES AREA OF NORTH AMERICA*

1994/08/01 by R. G. V. HANCOCK, R. G. V. Hancock, A. CHAFE +2 · 3 citations
Arts and Humanities · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Conservation Techniques and Studies

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.1994.tb00968.x

Abstract

Sixteenth‐ and seventeenth‐century European blue glass trade beads from aboriginal sites in the eastern Great Lakes area of North America have been analysed non‐destructively using low neutron dose instrumental neutron activation analysis, so that the beads could be returned to their keepers. Dark blue (cobalt‐coloured) beads are readily separable from turquoise (copper‐coloured) beads. Differences in the chemistries of the turquoise blue beads appear to be useful in separating glass beads from the two centuries. Low calcium, sixteenth‐century turquoise beads tend to distintegrate by a leaching of the alkali metals.

Cited by

• Comparing Chemistries: Inter‐Laboratory Evaluation of Glass Bead Compositional Research in the Great Lakes Region
• Shedding New Light on Ancient Glass Beads by Synchrotron, SEM-EDS, and Raman Spectroscopy Techniques. [europepmc]
• The systematic techno-stylistic and chemical study of glass beads from post-15th century West African sites. [europepmc]

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