Retour au reportage Retour au reportage
20160108_0003

© Cyril FRESILLON / IPANEMA / CNRS Images

Reference

20160108_0003

View of a beamline inside the Soleil Synchrotron, which also comprises Disco

View of a beamline inside the Soleil Synchrotron, which also comprises Disco, the beamline that pierced the secret of the Mehrgarh amulet. A beamline serves to extract photons, select their energy range and focus the synchrotron beam on the subject. The Disco microscope, which covers the VUV-visible range from 180 to 1,000 nm, was used to analyse this copper amulet from the Chalcolithic period, discovered at Mehrgarh in present-day Pakistan. This analysis enabled us to work out how it was made. This amulet is the oldest known object made by the lost wax process, which uses a model sculpted in a material like beeswax that is subsequently encased in a clay mould. Because wax melts at low temperature it runs out easily when the clay is heated. Molten metal is then poured into the clay mould, filling the empty space left by the lost wax.

Scientific topics

CNRS Images,

Our work is guided by the way scientists question the world around them and we translate their research into images to help people to understand the world better and to awaken their curiosity and wonderment.