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Using negative muons as a probe for depth profiling silver Roman coinage

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Hampshire, Bethany, Butcher, Kevin, Ishida, Katsu, Green, George, Paul, Don McK. and Hillier, Adrian (2019) Using negative muons as a probe for depth profiling silver Roman coinage. Heritage, 2 (1). pp. 400-407. doi:10.3390/heritage2010028 ISSN 2050-7445.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/heritage2010028

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Abstract

Debasement of silver Roman coins is a well-known phenomenon and understanding the quality of ancient silver coinages can provide an idea about the underlying fiscal condition of the issuing states. These coins are made from a silver-copper alloy, the surfaces of which were deliberately enhanced at the mints by a process of surface-enrichment to give them the appearance of being made of pure silver. Therefore, any surface analysis would provide a composition of the silver-copper alloy that would not be representative of the original alloy from which the coin blank was made; the result would be too high in silver. However, the bulk of the sample, the interior, should provide a composition that is true to the original alloy. Elemental analysis using negative muons has been used to provide a depth dependent compositional, completely non-destructive analysis of a silver-copper alloy denarius of the empress Julia Domna datable to 211–217 CE. The composition of the coin, beyond the surface enrichment layer, is 51 ± 1.8 % copper and 49 ± 1.9% silver, taken at a muon depth of 402 ± 61 µm. The surface enrichment layer is approximately 190 µm thick.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CB History of civilization
Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions: Faculty of Arts > Classics and Ancient History
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Coins, Roman, Silver coins, Muons
Journal or Publication Title: Heritage
Publisher: M D P I AG
ISSN: 2050-7445
Official Date: 29 January 2019
Dates:
DateEvent
29 January 2019Published
23 January 2019Accepted
Volume: 2
Number: 1
Page Range: pp. 400-407
DOI: 10.3390/heritage2010028
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit: 8 May 2019
Date of first compliant Open Access: 8 May 2019
RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
UNSPECIFIED[STFC] Science and Technology Facilities Councilhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000271
UNSPECIFIEDUniversity of Warwickhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000741
UNSPECIFIEDRIKENhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100006264

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