Poets immortalized him, made him the subject of romantic works which celebrated his bravery and exploits. A medieval Castilian knight, he became one of the most famous figures in the Spanish history. (How famous? Think Charlton Heston in the title role, Sophia Loren as the love interest, and three Academy Awards, 1961.)

He was born c.1043, christened Rodrigo D'az de Vivar. He died in 1099, forever etched into history as El Cid, popularized from mio Cid de compëador, my lord the champion.

He fought first for Castilian kings Ferdinand I and Sancho II against the Moors. However, a subsequent ruler, Alfonso VI, distrusted him and in 1081 forced him into exile.

That propelled him into his career as a mercenary. He made himself and his army available to Christians and Muslims alike while manipulating his employers for his own interests. He fought for the highest bidder, and finally he fought for and won his own kingdom, Valencia. He ruled there until his death.

And by his side, both scholars and poets tell us, the beautiful, graceful and gorgeously ornamented Tizona, a sword of legendary power.

Historians and archeologists revel in understanding where things come from. It helps them piece their stories together with confidence. Nowadays they are calling more and more frequently on the services of analytical chemists to help them determine the origins of the artifacts in their collections.

Tizona currently resides in the Museo del Ejercito in Madrid. Not long ago, researchers from the University of Oviedo decided to take a closer look at Tizona with an eye to determining her geographical origins.

Tizona remains today a much admired cutting-edge sword. The hilt is a XV-century replacement of the original Arabian design, but the blade is the genuine article, an artifact intact from the day El Cid liberated it from a defeated enemy, one King Bucar.

The key to an object's origins is in the pattern of impurities locked into its metallurgy. The combination of elements and their relative quantities are unique to the geographical location of manufacture. By comparing the composition of the artifact with samples taken from objects whose origins are known, scientists can pinpoint with considerable accuracy the site of its creation.

For Tizona, researchers called upon a Hewlett-Packard HP 4500 ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer) instrument to perform the analysis. ICP-MS is a relatively new technique that performs elemental analysis with remarkable sensitivity and offers considerable advantages over more established techniques. In ICP-MS, liquid samples are atomized and then ionized in a high temperature plasma (ICP). The resulting ions pass into a mass spectrometer (MS) analyzer where they are detected and measured. It is 100 to 1000 times more sensitive than competing techniques, and can simultaneously measure most elements in the periodic table and determine analyte concentration down to the part-per trillion (ppt) level. It can perform qualitative, semiquantitative, and quantitative analysis, and also measure isotope ratios. A full sample analysis takes approximately 3 minutes.

"The wide dynamic range of ICP-MS," the researchers write, ¹ "measures concentrations ranging from ppm to ppt with great ease and accuracy, reducing the need for multiple runs down to a single assay. The sensitivity of ICP-MS is so high that only very small amounts of sample are required to obtain a complete trace metal characterization including isotopic ratio information. Indeed," they continue, "detection levels have become so low that the limits of detection are no longer defined by the instrument but by the impurities present in the reagents and containers"[emphasis added].

Another unique advantage of ICP-MS is that the operator does not require a priori knowledge of the elements present in the sample. The instrument can provide a complete qualitative analysis in a single run. Once all the elements have been identified, the analyst can concentrate on quantifying those elements that will provide the most significant information.

"This technique has tremendous potential," observes Dr. M. E. Milburn, an art historian specializing in Northwest Coast native materials. "It has huge ramifications for art historians and archeologists working in every area, from the bronzes of Benin to the coinage of Carthage. It would be really interesting, for example, to determine the origins of the copper objects used in the past as indicators of wealth by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest."

Back in Oviedo, the researchers performed a full quantitative analysis of Tizona from just 10mg of sample taken from the blade close to the hilt. Confirmed as a steel alloy, the blade was also found to contain nickel (Ni), copper (Cu) and antimony (Sb). The HP 4500 also revealed the presence of tungsten (W) and platinum (Pt), as the spectra show (black spectra - Tizona sample, red spectra - dissolution reagent blank) though at very low concentration levels.

This composition of impurities in the blade's metallurgy provided the necessary clues, by comparing it with the patterns obtained from other archaeological samples of known origin.

The result: the blade was probably manufactured early in the XI century in a workshop in Andalucia, from the old Córdoba Caliphate, known today as Sierra de Córdoba.

So now that we know where she came from, maybe someone can come up with the name and history of the swordsmith who made her.

ICP-MS spectra showing presence of W and Pt in the blade

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¹ J. I. García Alonso, J. A. Martinez, A. J. Criado, "Origin of El Cid's sword revealed by ICP-MS metal analysis", Spectroscopy Europe, 11/4 (1999).