A pXRF-Based Approach to Identifying the Material Source of Stone Cultural Relics: A Case Study

Abstract

Precise identification of material sources is of great significance to archaeological study, conservation, and restoration of stone cultural relics. The present study proposes a simple and efficient approach to identifying the material source of stone cultural relics based on portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (pXRF) and statistical analyses. Chemical elements of stone samples, including Ca, K, Fe, Al, Si, Cl, S, and Mg from both cultural relics and potential quarries, were first measured non-destructively using a pXRF device. Obtained chemical element data were then classified using statistical techniques (i.e., cluster analysis and principal component analysis) to match tested materials from cultural relics to the material from a quarry, thereby identifying the material source of stone cultural relics. The proposed method was applied to identify the material sources of the Jin Gang Throne Tower (JGT Tower), the stele of “Rebuilding Pu’ansi Temple” (PAS Stele), and the stele of “Renovation of Sanjinmiao Temple” (SJM Stele) in Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum. The study shows that pXRF can be used on-site for handheld, fast, inexpensive, and non-destructive measurements of the elemental composition of stone materials, being a powerful tool for identifying the material source of stone culture relics especially immovable and large-scale ones.