Application of a portable XRF spectrometer for the non-invasive analysis of museum metal artefacts

The present paper reviews examples of the application of a portable - in house developed- XRF spectrometer for the analysis of museum metal artefacts in Greece. Specific topics are addressed, in particular, to which extent the qualitative or quantitative XRF analyses reveal important information about the raw materials and manufacture techniques used for gold, silver and bronze alloys in antiquity. The analytical information that it is gained by means of the XRF measurements is further assessed in comparison with the existing archaeometallurgical knowledge.