X Ray imaging, X Ray fluorescence and diffraction to study metal archaeological remains from excavations

The X Ray Imaging (XRI), Radiography and Computed Tomography (CT), is a valuable support to X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis of archeological remains from excavation. XRI gives a complete documentation of the object and suggests where to perform XRF analysis and where to pick samples for XRD. The data are useful to characterize the material composing the object and to determine its state of decay; in addition they can help to choose the best procedures for restoration and also support the work of archaeologists. In this paper we present the study of two types of archaeological remains. The first one consists of lifted blocks of soil from the ancient Latin town of Crustumerium. The second type consists of Roman coins from Palatine Hill in Rome and from Pompeii