Revealing ancient gold parting with silver and copper isotopes: implications from cementation experiments and for the analysis of gold artefacts

Abstract Gold parting enabled the production of very pure gold for various purposes from sixth century BC onwards, but analytical proof this pyrotechnical process is difficult. We describe a new approach identification purified combining silver and copper isotopic with trace element analyses. Parting experiments were performed gold-silver-copper alloys using classical salt cementation to investigate potential isotope fractionation changes in concentrations. In addition, we provide first comprehensive dataset ratios archaeological objects Mediterranean Central Europe test whether or not refining can be identified on basis systematics. The results show that heavy compositions are clear evidence parted gold, application isotopes might limited.