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Synchrotron micro-XRD study, the way toward a deeper characterizing the early prehistoric Iranian glass cylinders from Late Bronze Age (1280 BC)

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Abstract

In this article, the chemical and mineralogical composition of a unique glass cylinder obtained from the temple of Chogha-Zanbil and classified as the earliest glass discovered in Iran (2nd millennium BC) has been studied. This was achieved through the use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, environmental scanning electron microscope and synchrotron X-ray micro-diffraction to characterize the presence of microstructures and the distribution of elements within their matrices. In order to accurately determine the characteristic crystalline phase constituents, micro-X-ray diffraction experiments were carried out at the CELLS-ALBA Synchrotron. Results reveal that the glass samples are comprised of silica glass and contain calcite, quartz and gehlenite as the major phases. The presence of argentojarosite as the Ag-bearing mineral within the amorphous part of glasses highlights the first use of Ag (Late Bronze Age) in Iran. The novelty of the results includes the identification of specific minerals (i.e., silver-containing minerals) used in the production of glass cylinders to obtain better luster and produce iridescence effects.

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This manuscript has associated data in a data repository. [Authors’ comment: The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available in the Mohammadamin Emami repository, DOI : https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00486-6.].

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by proposal ID 2017062250 at BL04-MSPD beamline, ALBA, Spain. This research has also been financially supported by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, and the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), Tehran, Iran, in collaboration with ALBA Synchrotron, Barcelona, Spain. This project has been run and supported by Horizon 2020. The authors are sincerely thankful to the beamline scientists at BL04 – MSPD in ALBA synchrotron. Special thanks are expressed to Prof. Miguel Aranda, the scientific director of ALBA, for all his collaboration and help in this project. The authors gratefully appreciate Prof. Gabriela Krist, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien/University of Applied Arts, Vienna, for allowing the corresponding author to cooperate with her department. Finally, we would like to thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments to our manuscript, which helped to improve the final version of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Conservation of Cultural Properties, Art University of Isfahan, Hakim-Nezami, Isfahan, 1744, Iran

    Mohammadamin Emami

  2. IdEx Fellowship at IRAMAT-CRP2A, Institut de recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, University Bordeaux, 33607, Pessac Cedex, France

    Mohammadamin Emami, Christian Pritzel & Reinhard Trettin

  3. Department of Physics, University of Isfahan, Hezar-Jarib St., Isfahan, 81746-73441, Iran

    Amir Sayid Hassan Rozatian

  4. ALBA Synchrotron Light Source - CELLS, Carrer de la Llum 2-26, Cerdanyola del Vallès, 08290, Barcelona, Spain

    Oriol Vallcorba

  5. Institute of Conservation and Restoration, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Salzgries 14, 1, 1010, Vienna, Austria

    Marta Anghelone

  6. Departments for Conservation of Cultural Relics, 30th Tir St., Tehran, 116945-4364, Iran

    Manijeh Hadian Dehkordi

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  1. Mohammadamin Emami
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  2. Amir Sayid Hassan Rozatian
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  3. Oriol Vallcorba
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  4. Marta Anghelone
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  5. Manijeh Hadian Dehkordi
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  6. Christian Pritzel
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  7. Reinhard Trettin
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Correspondence to Mohammadamin Emami.

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Emami, M., Rozatian, A.S.H., Vallcorba, O. et al. Synchrotron micro-XRD study, the way toward a deeper characterizing the early prehistoric Iranian glass cylinders from Late Bronze Age (1280 BC). Eur. Phys. J. Plus 135, 487 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-020-00486-6

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