The Elcho Island Coin
This page details the discovery and analysis of a small - corroded copper coin found on the 16th June 2018 by Michael Hermes on Mission Beach at Galiwin'ku on Elcho Island, off the Arnhemland Coast of Australia's Northern Territory.
Elcho Island
The Find Site
Ghost Coin Images
Comparison with a Kilwa Coin
Flinders University
Bristol University
2014 Elcho Is. Chinese Coin Find
MH2 Sources - Resources
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ENHANCING UNDERSTANDING OF THE EMERGENCE OF GLOBAL TRADE :
ANALYSIS OF 17TH - TO 19TH - CENTURY SPANISH COINS RECOVERED FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SHIPWRECKS
USING LASER ABLATION – INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA – MASS SPECTROMETRY
(LA – ICP –MS)*
L. GENTELLI†
Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, M010, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
This research uses legacy data from shipwrecks to further our understanding of global silver movement in the 17th to 19th centuries by analysing a collection of silver coins held by the Western Australian Museum. Three hundred and eighty-nine silver coins were analysed for their trace element fingerprint in order to identify provenance. The coins are a selection from the ships Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zuytdorp, Rapid and Correio da Azia, all wrecked off the coast of Western Australia between 1629 and 1816. Analysis was undertaken using laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS), a relatively non-destructive technique with a sensitivity of parts per million to parts per billion. Data were interpreted using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), which allowed the coins of known provenance to be sorted into identifiable sub-groups on the basis of their trace and minor elemental fingerprints, while 27 unidentified coins were compared with this database and their mint of origin predicted. These results have implications for the provenance determination of archaeological artefacts of many materials.
ANALYSIS OF 17TH - TO 19TH - CENTURY SPANISH COINS RECOVERED FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIAN SHIPWRECKS
USING LASER ABLATION – INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA – MASS SPECTROMETRY
(LA – ICP –MS)*
L. GENTELLI†
Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis, The University of Western Australia, M010, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
This research uses legacy data from shipwrecks to further our understanding of global silver movement in the 17th to 19th centuries by analysing a collection of silver coins held by the Western Australian Museum. Three hundred and eighty-nine silver coins were analysed for their trace element fingerprint in order to identify provenance. The coins are a selection from the ships Batavia, Vergulde Draeck, Zuytdorp, Rapid and Correio da Azia, all wrecked off the coast of Western Australia between 1629 and 1816. Analysis was undertaken using laser ablation – inductively coupled plasma – mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS), a relatively non-destructive technique with a sensitivity of parts per million to parts per billion. Data were interpreted using linear discriminant analysis (LDA), which allowed the coins of known provenance to be sorted into identifiable sub-groups on the basis of their trace and minor elemental fingerprints, while 27 unidentified coins were compared with this database and their mint of origin predicted. These results have implications for the provenance determination of archaeological artefacts of many materials.

gentelli-2019-archaeometry.pdf | |
File Size: | 1491 kb |
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Footage of area where Isenberg found Kilwa Coins in 1945 - courtesy of All 4 Adventure 2018
Media
Kilwa Coins Analysis

marchinbar_coins_report_on_corrosion_ian_macleod.pdf | |
File Size: | 560 kb |
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