• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.4-23
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• 2015

Buried bronze objects are naturally corroded by their surrounding environment, which results in producing corrosion layers containing a number of constituents. Corrosion layers in stable condition protect the objects from the environment and also could provide information in terms of the objects. Characteristic and mechanism of the corrosion layers is likely to be valuable information for the conservation treatment. Many research have been conducted to figure out the formation and characteristic of the corrosion layers, but the more research should be conducted with various approach and analytical methods. Raman spectroscopy is one of the analytical methods to identify microcrystal as a compound while other analytical methods are used to identify element. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the characteristic of corrosion layers of both excavated bronze objects through the raman spectroscopy. Two analytical methods, which are raman spectroscopy and SEM~EDS, were used to analyse four excavated bronze bowls. In the case of bronze bowls, malachite was found from the exterior corrosion layer and albite, quartz, and microcline, which are minerals, were also found. Cuprite was detected from the interior corrosion layers illustrating slightly different spectrum due to the combined compound. Lead segregation shows the form of PbO, $PbSO_4$ and $PbCO_3$ or it replaced as cuprite. In this study, small number of samples were analysed. This research is likely to be useful information to figure out not only the characteristic of the corrosion layers but also the authenticity of the artifacts if relevant research will be conducted. Therefore, further comprehensive researches on the various archaeological objects and corrosion environment condition are required in the future.