More than 1400 turquoise stones associated with 98 archaeological artifacts from Egypt, the Near East, and Central Asia were analyzed using non-invasive point and scanning XRF. Geological specimens of turquoise from mines in the Sinai and Iran were also included in this study. The relative intensities of characteristic X-rays of Fe, Cu, Zn, and As were used to categorize the stones, which are discussed here in terms of their geographical contexts and assigned dates. The results indicate strong correlations between turquoise composition and archaeological attribution. Although these relationships likely reflect differences in turquoise sources that changed over the course of several millennia, it is not possible to associate the chemical signatures with specific mines solely using non-invasive XRF data.

使用无创点扫描XRF分析了与来自埃及，近东和中亚的98具考古文物相关的1400多块绿松石石。这项研究还包括西奈和伊朗矿山的绿松石地质标本。Fe，Cu，Zn和As的特征X射线的相对强度用于对宝石进行分类，此处将根据其地理环境和指定日期进行讨论。结果表明，绿松石成分与考古属性之间存在很强的相关性。尽管这些关系可能反映了经过数千年变化的绿松石来源的差异，但仅使用非侵入性XRF数据不可能将化学特征与特定矿山相关联。