Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, zinc, iron, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014
Technical Observations: Both 1920.44.220 and 1920.44.267 have a similar method of manufacture. Both were cast by the lost-wax process, probably as a strip with the finials at the end, and then hammered from the inside into a coil in order to avoid damaging the very fine, crisp detail of the outer surface. The inner surface of 1920.44.267, although flat, preserves small dents from hammering. The central ridge, which is triangular in section, and the fine parallel ridges along the outer rims of the coil were probably already present in the wax and enhanced in the metal.
Both bracelets are highly mineralized in some areas, in particular where the rims have come in contact with each other, which has resulted in the loss of some of these areas. Most of the surface is dark green and covered with lumpy green and red cuprite corrosion pustules and coarse, sandy, tan burial accretions. In a few areas, the metal is very well preserved and even gives off metallic glints. 1920.44.220 is incomplete and is missing one end of the coil and finial. That same bracelet also has what looks like an ancient repair; two parts of the broken band overlap by c. 1.3 cm and seem to be riveted together. The outside section has been thinned down, with the central raised area hollowed out to allow the other section to slot into it more exactly. A crack in the heavily mineralized repair area may also have been glued together more recently, but this is not detectable by ultraviolet illumination.
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)
