This section is a compilation of two different
reports, which also cover other materials. PDFs of the full
reports are linked in at the bottom of this page.
2-8-S-40 & Mondaine Compact
Artifact 2-8-S-40 was analyzed for elemental makeup;
and it was looked at in comparison with the Mondaine
compact purchased on eBay for that purpose. The Purdue University
Library Special Collections has among its Earhart holdings a Mondaine
compact which belonged to her and was donated with other effects
to the Library by George Putnam. The small compact we purchased
was new and unused; the cellophane protecting the makeup was still
intact (see photo above). It dates from the 1930s.
From Report 88:
1. Mondaine Cosmetics Compact Housing:
The metal housing of the cosmetic case is made from brass,
a
copper and zinc alloy.
Results and Conclusions
1. Metal fragment with white concretions
(2-8-S-40)
1. The presumably ferrous substrate is indeed an iron-containing
compound. The white
concretion is a zinc-containing compound. FTIR reveals that the white concretion
contains calcite as well as compounds due to surface dirt such as silicates and iron
oxides. The zinc compound that comprises the majority of this sample was not FTIR
active, which suggests that it is white zinc oxide. Raman spectroscopy of the
concretion could not confirm this due to the strong fluorescence of the sample. The
identification of an oxidized iron-containing material that has an oxidized zinc
encrustation suggests that the sample is a piece of highly degraded galvanized steel.
The galvanization process of coating steel with zinc to retard the iron alloy corrosion
was invented in the eighteenth-century and patented in the second quarter of the
nineteenth-century.
Interpretation:
WHAT
As no copper is present, and iron is, the metal fragment is not
brass, but galvanized steel as indicated by the presence of zinc.
Nikumaroro is home to many, many metal drums of the type used to
carry fuel and other supplies around the world, most of which have
degraded into fragments. We are therefore inclined to think that
this fragment is probably not part of the Earhart/castaway puzzle
at the Seven Site.
Object Descriptions and Reason for Analysis
• OBJECT DESCRIPTIONS (form, material, color, etc): The
objects submitted for analysis are
archaeological material excavated from the Republic of Kiribati
and reference material related to
the Kiribati artifacts. They include: artifact 2-8-S-40 (a ferrous
artifact with a white concretion on its surface), and a Mondaine
cosmetic case containing two items, a dark pink rouge labeled ‘Medium’ and
a very pale pink pressed foundation powder labeled
‘flesh’.
• REASON FOR ANALYSIS: Could these objects have an early
twentieth-century American
provenance? Could they have been manufactured prior to 7/2/37?
Specific questions include: What is the composition of the flat
ferrous
artifacts? What is the composition of the white encrustation on its surface?
• SAMPLING: All samples for chemical analysis were transferred
to glass containers to prevent
contamination prior to analysis. All other analyses were performed
nondestructively.
• ANALYSIS PROTOCOL: X-ray fluorescence analysis
was used to identify the elemental
compositions of the ferrous artifact and white concretion,
and the
Mondaine compact contents. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used
to identify the molecular composition of the Mondaine compact contents,
and the white concretion on the ferrous artifact.
Click HERE for a PDF of Report
71. (2.1 MB)
Click HERE for a PDF of Report 88. (2.2 MB)
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