The X ray fluorescence analysis integrated into the archaeological survey methods is a technique based on the study of the fluorescence radiation issued by the sample under exam after being irradiated with an X-ray beam. XRF technique allows to identify major chemical elements (i.e. Silicon (Si), Aluminium (Al), Iron (Fe), Potassium (K) and Calcium (Ca)) as well as a large number of secondary and trace elements.
In the ERC nEU-Med project, the physico-chemical analyses applied to soils and sediments have allowed to understand specific areas inside the site of Vetricella a Scarlino and to characterized the anthropic presences in the Pecora river valley. Luisa Dallai, coordinator of nEU-Med Task “Inland and coastal surveys”, Vanessa Volpi, Post Doc Research Fellow in the nEU-Med project, and Isabella Carli, MA student UniSi, show this multidisciplinary analytical protocol set up by the nEU-Med project, a first step towards the construction of a chemical-archaeological “legend”, so as to better tackle the study of the southern Tuscan territory.