Dating archaeological lead artifacts from measurement of the corrosion content using the voltammetry of microparticles

A methodology for dating archeological lead artifacts based on the voltammetry of microparticles is described. This methodology is based on the comparison of the height of speci¿c voltammetric features from PbO2 and PbO corrosion products formed under long-term alteration conditions. Calibration of the method was performed with the help of a series of well-documented lead pieces from the funds of di¿erent museums of the Comunitat Valenciana (Spain) covering from the ¿fth century B.C. to present day. The variation of peak currents with the time of corrosion can be¿tted to the same potential rate law as that found by Reich (R = 0.070 ( 0.005), using measurements on the Meissner fraction in the superconducting state of lead. The proposed electrochemical methodology enables the dating of archeological lead artifacts with a time-dependent uncertainty estimated to be (150 years for the most ancient samples in this studyWe gratefully acknowledge the financial backing from the Spanish "I+D+I MEC" projects CTQ2006-15672-C05-05/BQU, CTQ2008-06727-C03-01/BQU, and 02/BQU (ERDF funds).Domenech Carbo, MT.; Domenech Carbo, A.; Peiró Ronda, MA. (2011). Dating archaeological lead artifacts from measurement of the corrosion content using the voltammetry of microparticles. Analytical Chemistry. 83:5639-5644. https://doi.org/10.1021/ac200731qS563956448