Iron objects are among the most abundant type of metal artefacts in the archaeological record and help to deepen our understanding of past societies and their technologies. However, sampling of them is often problematic due to the destructive character of most analytical methods. In this study, iron and oxygen isotope compositions of iron artefacts from marine and water under-saturated oxidising environments were analysed in a first attempt to gather artefact information from the corrosion layer without sampling the object directly. No Fe isotope fractionation between artefact and its corrosion products was recognised for both environments but cannot be excluded for marine environments. Hence, the artefact’s Fe isotope composition can be determined from the corrosion layer. This allows the characterisation of artefacts which cannot be sampled directly. Because the available data precluded a clear identification of the underlying processes, possible fractionation mechanisms resulting in this situation are presented. Furthermore, the results of this study indicate that corrosion products have the same oxygen isotope composition as their source water. As for marine corrosion, general absence of oxygen isotope fractionation could not be manifested here, because only a small sample size was available for the present study. However, a complex interplay of many parameters governs the oxygen isotope compositions of corrosion products on metallic iron. Especially oxidising environments above the water table have a strong impact on the oxygen isotope composition of the corrosion layer. The first-order controlling mechanisms, such as evaporation, are set by the local environment and cannot be reconstructed. Therefore, the oxygen isotope composition of corrosion products seems to bear no valuable potential for archaeometallurgical research.

中文翻译：

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铁物体腐蚀过程中的铁和氧同位素系统分析：第一种方法

铁器是考古记录中最丰富的金属制品之一，有助于加深我们对过去社会及其技术的了解。但是，由于大多数分析方法的破坏性，对它们进行采样通常会带来问题。在这项研究中，分析海洋和水中欠饱和氧化环境中的铁文物的铁和氧同位素组成，这是首次尝试从腐蚀层收集文物信息而无需直接取样的情况。在两种环境下均未发现伪影及其腐蚀产物之间的铁同位素分馏，但不能排除在海洋环境中。因此，可以从腐蚀层确定伪影的Fe同位素组成。这样可以表征无法直接采样的伪像。由于可用数据无法清楚识别基本过程，因此介绍了导致这种情况的可能的分馏机制。此外，这项研究的结果表明腐蚀产物与水源的氧同位素组成相同。至于海洋腐蚀，由于目前的研究只有少量样品，因此在这里不能证明普遍存在氧同位素分级分离。但是，许多参数之间的复杂相互作用决定了金属铁上腐蚀产物的氧同位素组成。特别是地下水位上方的氧化环境对腐蚀层的氧同位素组成有很大影响。一阶控制机制 例如蒸发，是由当地环境决定的，无法重建。因此，腐蚀产物的氧同位素组成似乎对考古学研究没有潜在的价值。