TY - JOUR
T1 - Curly malachite on archaeological bronze
T2 - A systematic study of the shape and phenomenological approach of its formation mechanism
AU - Nienhuis, Janneke
AU - Robbiola, Luc
AU - Giuliani, Roberta
AU - Joosten, Ineke
AU - Huisman, Hans
AU - van Os, Bertil
AU - Sietsma, Jilt
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Curly malachite (CM) is found as a green cupric carbonate hydroxide corrosion product on archaeological bronze, mostly on artefacts retrieved from graves. In this paper, a morphological characterization approach is proposed, enabling the investigation of the formation process of CM. It is suggested that curly malachite precipitates from an aqueous solution, for which the surrounding soil conditions provide local triggers. Anthropic activities associated with ritual burials do not significantly affect the growth of CM. It is also confirmed that curly malachite is usually not a pseudomorph of formerly organic material. Although the understanding of the formation process is far from complete, this study has shown that CM is expected to be found more often than is currently recognized, due to its relatively simple formation mechanisms and boundary conditions.
AB - Curly malachite (CM) is found as a green cupric carbonate hydroxide corrosion product on archaeological bronze, mostly on artefacts retrieved from graves. In this paper, a morphological characterization approach is proposed, enabling the investigation of the formation process of CM. It is suggested that curly malachite precipitates from an aqueous solution, for which the surrounding soil conditions provide local triggers. Anthropic activities associated with ritual burials do not significantly affect the growth of CM. It is also confirmed that curly malachite is usually not a pseudomorph of formerly organic material. Although the understanding of the formation process is far from complete, this study has shown that CM is expected to be found more often than is currently recognized, due to its relatively simple formation mechanisms and boundary conditions.
KW - curly malachite
KW - archaeological bronze
KW - corrosion
KW - nucleation and growth
KW - morphology
KW - pseudomorph
UR - http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:6feb1e7e-b627-484e-a71f-2e06251a3271
M3 - Article
SN - 1581-9280
VL - 13
SP - 23
EP - 32
JO - e-Preservation Science
JF - e-Preservation Science
ER -