Portable X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (pXRF) X-ray
fluorescence is an analytical technique that returns information
about the elemental composition of a sample. The sample is
illuminated with an X-ray beam and the atoms which are struck by
the beam emit X-rays in response, usually at several different
energies. Different elements produce different distributions of
emitted X-rays so the spectrum of emitted X-rays can be used to
identify which elements are present in a sample. Until quite
recently XRF machines were sealed bench-top units which often
required that samples be removed from an museum object for
analysis. Portable XRF instruments can be taken to the object
and used to analyze its surface without removing sample, but at
a cost of less precise quantitative measurement. This canoe prow
from the Solomon Islands has unusual decoration: pieces of glass
inset below the ears rather than the more usual pieces of shell.
Glass was not produced in the Solomon Islands when this object
was made; pXRF analysis