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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Dating of Archaeological Gold by Means of Solid State Electrochemistry

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[EN] In archaeology and history of art, age determination is a fundamental analytical problem. While several techniques for age determination of various materials, like radiocarbon dating, are established, these methods cannot be applied for metals, for which new techniques have to be developed. For the first time a dating method for archaeological gold objects is described which is based on a corrosion clock and electrochemical measurements, using the voltammetry of immobilized particles. Samples are prepared by one touch' with a graphite pencil, only transferring a few nanograms of the archaeological gold. The method has been calibrated with the help of a series of well-documented gold specimen from different prehistory museums covering the last 2600years. Our results prove that this corrosion clock is going on a constant pace, practically independent of the environment, making it most attractive for applications in archaeometry.