Zone1 Mystery Of Medieval Pendant Full Of Bones Solved Using Neutrons

[Disir]

A gold-plated pendant thought to date back to the late 12th century has been analyzed using a neutron-based imaging technique, revealing its innermost secrets for the first time. The painstaking work was conducted by a team from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie at the Technical University of Munich.

The ornately decorated pendant was first unearthed in 2008 in the German city of Mainz, in the remnants of a medieval rubbish dump. It was immediately obvious that the pendant had been designed to open like a locket – but, frustratingly, centuries worth of damage meant that revealing its contents would be no easy feat.

“Centuries of corrosion have heavily damaged the object as a whole and especially the lock mechanism; opening the pendant would have meant destroying it beyond all hope of repair,” said restorer Matthias Heinzel in a statement.

Not to be deterred, the team turned to two different techniques involving neutrons.

Mystery Of Medieval Pendant Full Of Bones Solved Using Neutrons

The pendant, first discovered in 2008, contained fragments of bone that could have had religious significance.

www.iflscience.com

I'm more intrigued by the techniques than I am the pendant and what that means in the future. This has been claimed over the inter-web (which means it must be true) that of a Saint. They have no way of knowing any of that. In fact, I think it's pretty doubtful.

 

[Donald H]

A gold-plated pendant thought to date back to the late 12th century has been analyzed using a neutron-based imaging technique, revealing its innermost secrets for the first time. The painstaking work was conducted by a team from the Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie at the Technical University of Munich.

The ornately decorated pendant was first unearthed in 2008 in the German city of Mainz, in the remnants of a medieval rubbish dump. It was immediately obvious that the pendant had been designed to open like a locket – but, frustratingly, centuries worth of damage meant that revealing its contents would be no easy feat.

“Centuries of corrosion have heavily damaged the object as a whole and especially the lock mechanism; opening the pendant would have meant destroying it beyond all hope of repair,” said restorer Matthias Heinzel in a statement.

Not to be deterred, the team turned to two different techniques involving neutrons.

Mystery Of Medieval Pendant Full Of Bones Solved Using Neutrons

The pendant, first discovered in 2008, contained fragments of bone that could have had religious significance.

www.iflscience.com

I'm more intrigued by the techniques than I am the pendant and what that means in the future. This has been claimed over the inter-web (which means it must be true) that of a Saint. They have no way of knowing any of that. In fact, I think it's pretty doubtful.

I think it's going to be hard to stimulate interest here without some hints on the contents. However, I appreciate your attempt at starting a decent discussion!

That an object would be goldplated in the 12th. century is interesting in itself.

 

[Calypso Jones]

how big is this pendant that it contains bones. and bones of what?