Discovering new information from historical artefacts

Using electromagnetic radiation and charged particles as a probe

¹ Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, v. v. i., 250 68 Rez, Czech Republic
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, J.E. Purkinje University, Ceske Mladeze 8, 400 96 Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
³ Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Jadranska 19, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
⁴ Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, POB 3000, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
⁵ Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Universita` di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
⁶ INFN, Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

Abstract

Archaeological artefacts included in cultural heritage contribute to the knowledge of our roots, which may help us to learn about our future. Although the connection between ancient times and nuclear technology seems farfetched, this paper will try to show how nuclear radiation of various kinds can be irreplaceable in the elemental composition analysis of an archaeological find.