Chemical Composition: Handle
XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, arsenic
Crossbar
XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: iron, arsenic/lead
Rivet
XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Copper
Alloying Elements: copper
Other Elements: tin, lead, iron, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014
Technical Observations: The patina of the handle is mostly dark grayish green with a few brown areas. There are also a few lighter green areas where corrosion pustules must have broken through the surface. The patina of the plate has some darker brownish-black tones near the center.
The handle was cast in one piece, probably by the lost-wax process. The elongated grain structure that follows the shape of the handle at the bent terminals suggests that it was formed by hammering out toward the ends. It is not clear how the finials were shaped. The plate may have been cast and hammered. Certainly, there are hammer marks around the central area, which contains the remains of an iron rivet, and around the looped ends of the plate. The surface is finely finished and is smooth and shiny for the most part, although how much of this is from post-excavation cleaning is not clear.
A fine crack runs from below the rivet head to the edge of the plate on the more curved side. The join of the two pieces is a bit awkward; the handle does not move easily in the plate. In a few areas around the loops, the bare metal is exposed due to wear, but it does not seem to correspond to areas where the two components meet. The insides of the curved areas near the handle terminals are faceted in a way that suggests wear from contact with the plate, but it has no connection to the current mounting. Perhaps the looped ends of the plate were more bent out originally, but it is not clear how the two pieces would have been joined.
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)
