Curly malachite on archaeological bronze: A systematic study of the shape and phenomenological approach of its formation mechanism

Janneke Nienhuis, Luc Robbiola, Roberta Giuliani, Ineke Joosten, Hans Huisman, Bertil van Os, Jilt Sietsma

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    Abstract

    Curly malachite (CM) is found as a green cupric carbonate hydroxide corrosion product on archaeological bronze, mostly on artefacts retrieved from graves. In this paper, a morphological characterization approach is proposed, enabling the investigation of the formation process of CM. It is suggested that curly malachite precipitates from an aqueous solution, for which the surrounding soil conditions provide local triggers. Anthropic activities associated with ritual burials do not significantly affect the growth of CM. It is also confirmed that curly malachite is usually not a pseudomorph of formerly organic material. Although the understanding of the formation process is far from complete, this study has shown that CM is expected to be found more often than is currently recognized, due to its relatively simple formation mechanisms and boundary conditions.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)23-32
    Journale-Preservation Science
    Volume13
    Publication statusPublished - 2016

    Keywords

    • curly malachite
    • archaeological bronze
    • corrosion
    • nucleation and growth
    • morphology
    • pseudomorph

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