Are hand-held XRF devices useful to investigate craft in prehistory?

What is it about?

Hand-held XRF devices are affordable for museums and research institutions, they provide an easy way to gain knowledge on the chemical composition of a variety of materials. Often, also metals are investigated to gain information about their chemical characteristics. Many scholars aim to use these measurements to define workshops and metal trade. But, is the data obtained at all useful for such detailed investigations? In this study chemical analyses of 3000years old bronze ornaments, obtained using different methods are compared to answer this question.

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Why is it important?

This study provides hard facts for the limits of hand-held XRF analysis in order to allow future studies to use the best possible methodoligy for studying crafts in prehistory.