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Factors Affecting the Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) Analysis of Archaeological Obsidian

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X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) in Geoarchaeology

Abstract

Non-destructive XRF analysis of obsidian artifacts presents unique challenges for quantitative trace element characterization. These empirical tests of the effects of sample size and surface configuration allow estimation of minimum size requirements for different analyses. The results also show that errors resulting from surface irregularities are usually insignificant relative to other errors in the analysis.

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Correspondence to M. Steven Shackley .

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Davis, M.K., Jackson, T.L., Shackley, M.S., Teague, T., Hampel, J.H. (2011). Factors Affecting the Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) Analysis of Archaeological Obsidian. In: Shackley, M. (eds) X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF) in Geoarchaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6886-9_3

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