Abstract
Total potassium content of archaeological artifacts like glass beads was determined by estimating the amount of 40K in the sample using Compton Suppression Spectroscopy which in turn unveiled the trading pattern in past through famous ancient silk route in the Bay of Bengal region. The developed technique neither involved any reactor/accelerator/X-ray source nor any chemical treatment of the samples. We analyzed eight different samples from Tamilnadu, India of which two samples showed elevated potassium content indicating their different origin. This is the first report to discriminate glass beads according to their potassium content, which ultimately helped to predict their origin.
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Acknowledgments
This work has been carried out as part of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics-Department of Atomic Energy, 12th five year plan project “Trace, Ultratrace Analysis and Isotope Production (TULIP)”. The field-work was undertaken with a project grant from the Ministry of Culture, Govt of India and hosted through the Centre for Archaeological Studies and Training, Eastern India, an autonomous Institute of the Govt. of West Bengal. One of the author (KG) also likes to thank Dr. Selva Kumar. Associate Professor Tamil University, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu and Mr. Raja Anthony for undertaking the field-work.
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Lahiri, S., Maiti, M. & Gangopadhyay, K. Tracing ancient silk route by nuclear-analytical technique. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 225–228 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3922-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3922-3