X-ray fluorescence analysis 復習

京都市左京区の妙伝寺のご本尊である半跏思惟像は江戸時代に作られたと考えられていましたが、調査の結果、7世紀ごろに朝鮮半島で作られた可能性があることがわかりました。

Buddist statue in Kyoto may be a masterpiece from 7th century

A Buddhist statue kept at a small neighborhood temple here could well be 1,000 years older than anybody realized and a priceless artifact.

The main statue at the Myodenji temple in the city's Sakyo Ward is "Hanka Shiizo," a likeness of a bodhisattva sitting with the right leg lying on the other thigh and with a hand resting against the chin in thought.

The 50-centimeter tall metal statue was assumed to have been made early in the Edo Period (1603-1867), when the temple was established.

But Yutaka Fujioka, 54, a professor of Oriental art history at Osaka University, believes it was created by artisans on the Korean Peninsula in the seventh century. The statue likely ended up in Japan with the spread of Buddhism from the Asian continent.

中略

An X-ray fluorescence analysis was conducted on the statue to determine its metallic makeup: 86 percent copper and about 10 percent tin. The larger composition of tin than in statues normally found in Japan or China pointed to the Korean connection.

以下省略

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201701140027.html

今回は “X-ray fluorescence analysis” を取り上げます。まずfluorescenceについてですが、これは「蛍光性（色）の、蛍光を発する」という意味をもつ形容詞fluorescent /flʊəˈresənt / の名詞の形です。（『ライトハウス英和辞典』第5版　研究社）
LDOCEでfluorescentを調べると、“fluorescent colours are very bright and easy to see, even in the dark” や “a fluorescent light contains a tube filled with gas, which shines with a bright light when electricity is passed through it” と説明されておりました。

今回の記事の“X-ray fluorescence analysis” は「蛍光Ｘ線分析」となります。

蛍光Ｘ線分析とは「絵画や文化財などの顔料や資料の分析に用いられる技術」（コトバンク）で、Ｘ線を当てることで資料中の元素の種類や量を調べることができるそうです。

この表現は過去にも取り上げられておりました。（aqua）
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から