Applications of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) in Archaeology

Abstract

Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) has been used to study samples of archaeological gold, silver, copper and bronze prepared using simple metallographic etches. EBSD maps of orientation and local misorientation revealed the metals’ microstructures and deformation substructures, and from this, combined in some cases with information on the crystallographic texture (also determined by EBSD), the methods of manufacture and working of the artefacts were determined. EBSD was also used to examine discontinuous precipitation at grain boundaries in a silver alloy at a high resolution