A 112°C test may separate 1,000-year-old pottery from recent forgeries
Museums around the world now have a new tool to distinguish real ancient clay artifacts from fakes. The research team at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, led by postdoctoral scholar Yoav Vaknin, found a way to distinguish the magnetism that clay materials acquire over time from the magnetism they acquired the day they were made.
Recent scientific research has developed a method to distinguish between 1,000-year-old pottery and recent forgeries using a 112°C test. The technique, discovered by a team at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, utilizes the differences in magnetic properties between ancient and modern clay artifacts. The study, published in the journal PNAS, identifies a significant distinction between the temperature required to erase magnetism acquired after firing for older versus newer items.
Samples older than 1,000 years needed temperatures above 112°C for magnetism removal, while modern pottery demagnetized at lower temperatures. This innovation could prove invaluable for museums, archaeologists, and law enforcement agencies, helping to authenticate artifacts and combat illicit antiquities trade.
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