Conventional and advanced techniques for archaeological diagnostic of iron artefacts

In this paper, an overview of corrosion processes on iron-based artifacts from Motya (western Sicily, Italy) is proposed. A review of the research contributions is given concerning two main topics: (i) the study of the interaction between iron weapons and the lagoon-like environment of Motya by means of spectroscopic and microscopic analyses. The results are compared with those obtained from the study of armors found in the Punic Necropolis of Lilybaeum (4th century BC, Sicily), which permit to define different corrosion models; (ii) the characterization of corrosion of iron nail (IV century BC) through a multi-modal and multi-scale approach using a X-Ray tomographic technique to get a comprehensive understanding of the structure, morphology, stratification, chemical composition and corrosion mechanisms.