In-Situ Fe-57 Mossbauer Characterization Of Iron Oxides In Pigments Of A Rupestrian Painting From The Serra Da Capivara National Park, In Brazil, With The Backscattering Mossbauer Spectrometer Mimos Ii

It is reported the use of the miniaturized portable Fe-57 Mossbauer backscattering spectrometer MIMOS II to perform in situ measurements in the archaeological site known as Toca do Boqueirao do Sitio da Pedra Furada (BPF), in Serra da Capivara National Park, in order to specifically examine shades of dark red pigments and compare their differences relatively to the light red part of the same painting. The hyperfine Mossbauer parameters reveal that the dark red area of the rupestrian painting is composed of three populations of hematite and of a small proportion of maghemite, whereas the light red are of the same painting contain hematite mixed with a small proportion of maghemite and a (super) paramagnetic Fe3+. The Fe content in the dark red area from the rupestrian painting is of approximately twice the amount in the light red of the same prehistoric graphism. The corresponding analysis of red ochre sample collected in the excavation of these archaeological site exhibited two populations of hematite and also a small proportion of maghemite.