Quantitative multi-element mapping of ancient glass using a simple and robust LA-ICP-MS rastering procedure in combination with image analysis

The surface of two glass artefacts in mosaic style, probably fragments of conglomerate glass bowls dating back two millennia, was investigated by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). By rastering with the laser beam over a selected area of the surface of the glass artefacts, elemental oxide maps were generated. Quantification of the elemental oxides in the maps was achieved using a so-called sum normalization procedure, summating the elements—54 in total—as their oxides to 100% (w/w), without using an internal standard and applying only one external standard (NIST SRM glass 610). This results in a robust mapping procedure which automatically corrects for drift and defocusing issues. Sum normalization was applied to each pixel in the map separately and required a custom source code to process all the data in the tens of thousands of pixels to generate the elemental oxide concentration maps. The digital element maps generated upon rastering of the two glass artefacts are very compelling and are an excellent entry point to gain detailed insight into their fabrication and provenance using image analysis software for retrieval of localized elemental oxide concentrations and correlations.