A contribution of INAA to the determination of the provenance of the fourteenth century sculpture

The object of the investigation is the so called Madonna Jackowa, or St. Hyacinthus's Madonna, a gothic alabaster figurine dated from the XIVth century. The purpose of the investigation is to provide an answer to the question whether Madonna Jackowa was made of native alabaster. Samples of alabaster from five various quarries located along the line Cracow-Lvov as well as in Lower Silesia were analyzed and the content of trace elements was compared with that of the sculpture. The determination of trace elements was carried out by means of the instrumental neutron activation analysis.