Analiza rozmieszczenia pierwiastków w badaniach archeometrycznych z zastosowaniem mikropróbkowania laserowego w spektrometrii mas z jonizacją w plazmie indukcyjnie sprzężonej

Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is one of modern instrumental methods, which use in elemental analysis of cultural heritage objects has recently noticeably increased. The method requires almost no sample preparation and permits direct analysis of solid samples, availing only minute amount of the material. The micro-destructiveness of ablation processes remains usually within the scale acceptable for art historians, conservators, archaeologists and art curators, therefore the capability to perform multi-elemental, ultra trace and isotopic analysis can be fully used during studies of cultural heritage objects. The lack of appropriate matrix-matched certified reference materials and the fractionation effects, which may influence the final quantitative results to a different extent, are widely reported among the main limitations of LA-ICP-MS. Despite these constrains, LA-ICP-MS is a method that can be flexibly tuned to collect the desired elemental information about various cultural heritage objects. This paper focuses on advantages of using LA-ICP-MS in analysis of heterogeneous objects in respect of mapping of elemental distribution either during the onepoint or multi-line ablation executed directly from the surface of the investigated objects. The use of LA-ICP-MS allowed collection of chemical information availing reconstruction of distribution patterns, which reflected important structural characteristic of the small gilded decoration produced in mediaeval times (collection of Gallery of Medieval Art, the National Museum in Warsaw) and archaeological “metal-in-glass”/“sandwich” bead (Nubian collection, the Museum of Archaeology University of Stavanger, Norway). The mediaeval decoration was identified as the gilded (Ag+Au) copper object, which due to corrosion and re-painting has lost their original appearance. The bead was produced from two various types of glass and a metal foil (Ag+Au+Cu) between them. In both cases LA-ICP-MS was used successfully to determine the main elemental composition and to collect information about elemental distribution in the investigated artifact.