Ion Beam Analysis for the Investigation of a Polychrome Wooden Statuette from Ancient Egypt

A large production of wooden statuettes can be included among Ancient Egypt treasures. The wooden surfaces are often decorated with painted layers of different colors, whose specific sequence had not only aesthetic purpose, but also a ritual meaning, since the figurines were frequently part of grave goods. Such kind of statuettes have gained increasing interest for archaeometrical studies, with the application of different techniques, such as SEM-EDX, XRF and Raman spectroscopy, and possibly with non-invasive or nondestructive methods. In this work a preliminary qualitative characterization with both PIXE and ionoluminescence (IL) was achieved for the study of the different layers and pigments, thanks to the availability of small fragments spontaneously detached from the surfaces of a heavily damaged statuette, dated back to 1100-1300 BCE. The simultaneous acquisition of PIXE and IL signals from the same area allows to collect both elemental and structural information on the material under analysis. Moreover, the very low values for limit of detection reachable with PIXE permit as well to quantitatively determine the concentration of trace elements, useful in future investigations on the material provenance.