"The use of spectroscopic techniques in the analysis and dating of archaeological and cultural artefacts is now well established. Whether they are used for dating or compositional analysis, the data they produce is invaluable for archaeologists, curators and conservation scientists. This second edition addresses present microscopic characterization techniques and spectroscopic techniques including, x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy for archaeological and cultural heritage research applications. The book includes contributions from an international pool of researchers and uses case studies to demonstrate the applications of the techniques under discussion"--