Material Insights

A Powder X-Ray Diffraction Pilot Study on Clay Tablets

UWA-DESY Cooperation

Researchers from UWA and the German Electron Synchrotron DESY are carrying out pilot studies to investigate historical written artefacts at the X-ray radiation source PETRA III. The key advantage of X-ray investigations is that the artefacts can be examined without any destruction. As far as the examination method allows, no special sample preparation is required – the precious and unique objects thus remain intact.

Marta Mayer/DESY

This study deals with Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets. These millennia-old artefacts are an essential source for understanding this ancient, advanced civilization. However, many tablets that cannot be dated and originated are of limited value for research. DESY and UWA are investigating 36 objects from the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (MKG) and the Hamburg State and University Library (SUB) collections to understand the context of the origin of a tablet by analysing the nature of the clay.

The powder diffraction method was chosen for the non-destructive and basic material characterisation of this investigation. In this method, all mineral grains are detected by the X-ray beam in a local area, and these thus contribute to a characteristic diffraction pattern for a specific part of the clay tablet. The diffraction pattern consists of individual diffraction reflections for each contained mineral and gives atomic-level information about the crystalline structure. With suitable software, the mineral components can be analysed, and thus an insight into the atomic structure – as well as the quantitative composition – of these minerals can be obtained.