ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION OF FIVE ROMAN Pb-BASED SCALE WEIGHTS (QASR AR-RABBAH, JORDAN): A CASE STUDY

Authors

  • Ahmad Abu-Baker Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology-Conservation of Cultural Resources-Applied Science in archaeology, Yarmouk University, Postal code 211-63, Irbid, Jordan
  • Wassef Al Sekhaneh Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology-Conservation of Cultural Resources-Applied Science in archaeology, Yarmouk University, Postal code 211-63, Irbid, Jordan
  • Atef Shiyab Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology-Conservation of Cultural Resources-Applied Science in archaeology, Yarmouk University, Postal code 211-63, Irbid, Jordan
  • Jan Dellith Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, 07745 Jena, Germany
  • Andy Scheffel Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, 07745 Jena, Germany
  • M. Anwar Alebrahim Institute of Photonic Technology, Albert-Einstein-Str. 9, 07745 Jena, Germany
  • Jürgen Popp Institute of Physical Chemistry and Abbe Center of Photonics, University Jena, Helmholtzweg 4, 07743 Jena, Germany

Keywords:

Roman, Lead, corrosion, lead scale weight, SEM–EDX, XRD

Abstract

The composition and corrosion behavior of five archaeological lead scale weights from Qasr Ar-Rabbah in Jordan is studied using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray micro-analysis (SEM–EDX). X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used to identify the mineralogical composition of the corrosion layers. It is found that the weights were relatively pure lead objects with the presence of minor elements that were associated with lead in its ores. The corrosion layers were basically composed of the stable corrosion product cerussite PbCO3, which however obscured the surface details and contained micro-cracks.

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Published

2023-07-28

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2014)

Section

Articles