A novel in-air PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) setup was developed which is capable of the fast, sensitive, fully quantitative characterization of elemental composition of thin and thick samples for elements with Z > 6.

Ion beam analysis (IBA) is an established method to determine the concentration and the distribution of elements in art and archaeological objects. However, especially for organic specimens, caution must be taken to avoid harmful effects. In this work, the possible modification of recent calf parchment samples by proton beam irradiation was investigated applying fluences (given as deposited charge per unit area) both within and beyond the usual analytical practice. Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) were employed to assess changes, inspected from the surface of the samples. Although both techniques are apt to detect alterations of parchment in general, in the case of particles, which deposit the majority of their energy below the surface these techniques could not detect changes at low fluences. However, a simple “bath test” (short immersion in liquid) proved that disintegration within the material had already happened. After the “bath test”, OCT and digital 3D microscopy were used to check the discontinuities in the material, especially for low fluences when the visual inspection might have missed them. Unfortunately, simply monitoring organic objects such as parchment during or after ion beam irradiation, non-destructively, is not sufficient to claim absolute harmlessness, as some studies in the past did. In line with our former findings using electron microscopy on cross sections, we found that 2.3 MeV protons with a deposited charge of 0.5 µC/cm² caused no changes affecting the integrity of parchment but 2 µC/cm² apparently did under the applied experimental conditions. To ensure the required analytical signal at a relatively low deposited charge, the detection system must be optimized for efficiency. Nevertheless, since the variability of the historic materials and the measurement set-ups are considerable, these values cannot be taken as absolutes, but only as guides, both for further IBA studies and for studies conducted in the past.

A Copper Age settlement and cemetery was fully excavated at Rákóczifalva-Bivaly-tó Site 1/C in 2005-2007, making it possible to compare the use of its material culture in closely related, coeval, but different archaeological contexts. Such a rare set of circumstances allows the authors to highlight methodological issues associated with the distorting effect of archaeological finds made on sites where only settlement or burial data are available, and on the importance of choosing appropriate analytical units.

The paper introduces the particle-induced X-ray emission analysis (PIXE) of two Hajdúböszörmény-type situlae from the eponymous Hajdúböszörmény I hoard (collection of the Hungarian National Museum, Budapest) and Sényő (collection of the Jósa András Museum, Nyíregyháza). Both situlae are representative types of the period between 1080 and 960 BC, Ha B1, or the ‘Hajdúböszörmény hoard horizon’ of the Hungarian Late Bronze Age. The obtained results are significant in that they are the very first to characterise the classic Hajdúböszörmény-type situla from their core distribution area, i.e., the region where this metal vessel type was presumably produced. The paper is focused on a description of the elemental composition of these tin bronze vessels, with particular attention on the grouping of their accompanying elements and the ratio of tin. The PIXE results suggest that a rather homogenous raw material was used to produce and repair these objects, which can be correlated with the CG16 Copper Group. The ratio of tin was relatively high, mostly around 9–10 wt%; low values were only identified on one of the repaired parts of the Sényő situla and a secondarily attached copper rivet.