ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Investigating the composition of small Hellenistic silver coins using negative muons

Abstract: The quality of ancient silver coinage is often seen as a comment on the fiscal health of the issuing states. This is nowhere more apparent than with Roman coinages, which witnessed heavy debasements during the first three centuries of our era. Two processes are detectable: a reduction in the fineness of the alloys; and a reduction in weight standards. However, the hypothesis here is that the two processes are interlinked, and that the second is largely an illusion caused by the first. One of the most reliable techniques for doing this is to sample by drilling into the cylindrical edge of the coin, discarding the first millimetre or so of turnings and retaining the sample from deeper within. However, for small, or thin coins, such an approach is not possible. Negative muons offer the possibility of a non-destructive multi-elemental analysis

Principal Investigator: Professor Kevin Butcher
Experimenter: Miss Bethany Hampshire
Local Contact: Dr Adrian Hillier
Experimenter: Dr Katsuhiko Ishida

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2010795

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2010795

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Professor Kevin Butcher et al; (2020): Investigating the composition of small Hellenistic silver coins using negative muons, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2010795

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.