LEAD ISOTOPE AND XRF ANALYSES OF SPANISH COLONIAL BRONZE BELLS

Few elemental analyses have been conducted on bronze bells produced in missions within colonial Spain in the late 16^th, early 17^th century. A pilot study of bronze bell fragments from Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina missions was conducted to determine original material source. Using nondestructive methods such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF) helps to understand the elemental differences of metal recipes used to cast bronze bells during this era. Surface collection of lead from these bells using noninvasive chemicals, paired with multiple collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS), has been compared with previously published isotopic lead data to give regional proveniences of bronze bell manufacturing. Unique differences in elemental signatures such as silver, antimony, and arsenic from XRF analysis between these missions may be characteristic in regional recipe differences in conjunction with their lead isotopes. The results from this study show bronze bell production likely occurred in Mexico from the Florida missions and from Spain in the Georgia and South Carolina missions.