MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF EARLY WESTERN GREEK INCUSE COINS

In this research we studied the compositional, crystallographic and microstructural properties of a series of incuse silver didracmae stemming from the Achaean colonies of Metapontum and Caulonia. We address the following points: the metal sources, th efabrication process and degradation phenomena, such as incrustation and embrittement, emploing energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spettroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and scanning electron and optical microscopies. Information regarding inclusions and presence of significant amounts of gold can be tentatively used to address provenancing and fabrication issues.