For the first time, Australian scientists have studied complex mixtures of natural pigments on intact Aboriginal Australian artefacts using x-ray fluorescence microscopy.
Previously applied to canvas paintings, the group at Flinders University applied the technique, which analyses the composition, application and layering of pigments, to two indigenous Australian objects – a boomerang and a bark painting. X-ray fluorescence microscopy allows complex elemental analysis of pigment mixtures of varying thickness without the need for damaging sample extraction. The objects are analysed directly in the x-ray beam.
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Novel application of X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) for the non-destructive micro-elemental analysis of natural mineral pigments on Aboriginal Australian objects
Rachel S. Popelka-Filcoff, Claire E. Lenehan, Enzo Lombi, Erica Donner, Daryl L. Howard, Martin D. de Jonge, David Paterson, Keryn Walshe and Allan Pring
Analyst, 2016
DOI: 10.1039/C5AN02065D, Paper
