Abstract. Meissner fraction in the superconducting state of lead archaeological artifacts is used to evaluate the mass of the uncorroded metal in the sample. Knowing the total mass of the sample, the mass of all corrosion products is established. It is shown that this mass correlates with the archaeological age of the lead artifacts over a time span of ~2500 years. Well-dated untreated lead samples from Tel-Dor, the Persian period, Caesarea, the Byzantine and the Crusader periods as well as contemporary data were used to establish the dating correlation. This new chemical dating method is apparently applicable to lead artifacts buried in soils with pH > 6.5. In such soils the corrosion process is very slow and the corrosion products, mainly PbO and PbCO₃, accumulate over hundreds of years. The method presented is in principle non-destructive.

Received 14 April 2003, in final form 2 July 2003
Published 28 July 2003