Pending results of non-destructive analyses at the APS at Argonne National Laboratory, the 1st millennium BC bracelet from Tsaghahovit may be the subject SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry)-based lead isotope analysis (LIA) of the source(s) of the metal used to make the object. Again, the results would be compared with SIMS LIA of copper and bronze adornments from Velikent conducted during May 2007. Although belonging to widely-separate periods, ore and metal deposits were frequently re-used, and the comparison would be part of the early stage in a broader effort to identify the sources of early copper and bronze utilized in the Caucasus. In particular, tin bronzes from Velikent show elevated levels of nickel similar to those found in early copper/bronze metalwork from Armenia, and the comparison of results will allow us to address whether they were derived from the same source(s).
Acknowledgments:
The work of Project ArAGATS is made possible by past and present grants from:
The National Science Foundation
The National Endowment for the Humanities
The Wenner-Gren Foundation
The National Geographic Society
The Social Science Research Council
Fulbright
The Dolores Zohrab Liebmann Fund
The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of Armenia
Cornell University Institute of the Social Sciences
Cornell University Einaudi Center
Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies
President's Council of Cornell Women
Purdue University
The University of Chicago Lichtstern Fund
Stanford Archaeology Center
American Research Institute of the South Caucasus
The generosity of the Friends of Project ArAGATS.
And by the warm hospitality of the people of the Tsaghkahovit Plain and Aparan Valley, Armenia.