Characterisation of an enamelled metallic object found in Guerrero Negro (Baja California) by PIXE and RBS techniques

The coast of Guerrero Negro (Baja California) has been known for a long time by archaeologists for its shipwrecks. Archaeologists are recovering objects that come from sunken Spanish galleons in the colonial period, and reach the American coast in the frontier of the USA with Mexico.An enamelled metallic object was found next to the beach in Guerrero Negro. We have analysed the piece with proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and Rutherford backscattering (RBS) in an attempt to establish whether the object could come from one of the colonial shipwrecks and to valuate its cleaning process.Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) have been also performed in three samples taken from the object in order to observe the heterogeneity of the material.The materials found revealed the presence of typical lead–glass enamels from with pigments such as cuprite (red), or lead–tin yellow used in colonial times. The metallic part consisted of brass. As for the cleaning process, the average efficiency considered as the weight% of chlorine removed, was of 83.4% for brass and 100% for enamels.