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Applications of Scanning Electron Microscopy in Archaeology

1988; Elsevier BV; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0065-2539(08)60904-x

0065-2539

Sandra L. Olsen,

X-ray Spectroscopy and Fluorescence Analysis

At present, most studies using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) rely on the secondary electron image (SEI) and are concerned primarily with the observation of surface topography. This chapter highlights the applications of SEM in archaeology. A wide range of archaeological materials including metals, glass, faience, pottery, stone, soil particles, pigments, bone, teeth, fingernails, skin, hair, eggshell, mollusks, insects and parasites, plant remains, wood, pollen, fibers, and so on, have been examined with secondary electron imaging. Another common use of the SEM is for determining composition, generally using energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDAX). The advantages of using x-ray microanalysis with a SEM are numerous. It provides a relatively quick and nondestructive means of obtaining qualitative information on the constituents of a material without much specimen preparation. The chapter reviews of the kinds of applications to which SEM has been put in archaeological analysis. For convenience, this has been organized according to the kinds of material studied, though in many cases artifacts are composed of more than one type of material.