Dear all,
In a Roman rubbish pile on the bottom of the river Maas at Cuijk, divers
of Mergor in Mosam (diving amateur archeologists) found two Roman fibulae
with different patina: black and green. The black one also showed some
tiny gold-coloured spots. It was hoped/expected that the black one was a
gold-plated silver fibulae. EDAX revealed that the patina consisted of
iron or copper sulfide (FeS or CuS) and the spots consisted of pyrites
(FeS2). So this is not much of a mystery. I am, however, very much
interested in how this layer was formed in the 1600 years (the riverbottom
consists of layers of peat, clay and sand).
Who can tell me more about this topic ?
Beste regards,
Peter Seinen
Underwater archeology "Mergor in Mosam" Cuijk Holland
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