Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Bronze
Alloying Elements: copper, tin
Other Elements: lead, iron, nickel, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014
Technical Observations: The patina is mostly dark brown, with some lighter brown areas in the recesses. Only a small area shows any green corrosion products. The overall pitting on the surface suggests that the arrowhead was chemically treated, and the surface was probably also scraped smooth during the post-excavation cleaning process.
The object was cast in one piece. The void between the barbs and the raised midrib may have been formed in the wax by cutting a slit on either side of the midrib and rolling or elongating the partly freed wax sections into the tapering barbs. Small indentations on the base of the midrib where it meets the body of arrowhead could also have been formed in the wax. The facets that define the midrib, the point, and body of the arrowhead could have partly been formed in the wax and further enhanced in the metal stage. The horizontal line that runs across the bottom of the midrib appears to have been formed in the metal.
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)
