This wide ranging paper describes the use of a portable x-ray fluor-escence unit and its travels around Europe and the Middle East to analyze ancient artifacts, mainly copper alloys. A brief description of the technique is given and the precision. The next section is on the introduction and type of alloying in the Near East in the Early and Middle Bronze Age, especially arsenic and tin alloying. The origin and use of tin bronze in Britain is described showing the almost immediate dominance of tin bronze in Britain in contrast to almost everywhere else. The trade of British metal artifacts to Europe is discussed. The problem of the sources of tin, especially in the Near East and its introduction into the copper leads the author to suggest that the old Assyrian terms normally translated as tin should refer to an alloy of copper and arsenic. -- AATA