ix asmosia international conference interdisciplinary studies on

ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF MARBLES AND OTHER STONES IN ANTIQUITY

INSTITUT CATALÀ D’ARQUEOLOGIA CLÀSSICA

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Tarragona, 8-13th June 2009

Main Hall of the Rovira i Virgili University - Rectorate building

BBOOOOKK OOFF AABBSSTTRRAACCTTSS

Organized by:

With the collaboration of:

With the sponsorship of:

With the scientific support of:

International Association of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (AIEGL)

IX International Conference ASMOSIA

Organizing Committee: President Prof. Isabel Rodà, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona (Spain). Vicepresidents Prof. Aureli Àlvarez, Departament de Geología, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, and Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona (Spain). Prof. Mª Pilar Lapuente, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). Secretary Dr. Anna Gutiérrez, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona, and Departament de Ciencies de l’Antiguitat i de l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). Assistants Joan Manel Asensio, Departament de Ciencies de l’Antiguitat i de l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). Ana Domènech, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona (Spain). Dr. Silvia González, Departament de Ciencies de l’Antiguitat i de l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (Spain). Dr. Diana Gorostidi, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona (Spain). Ana de Mesa, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Tarragona (Spain). Joan Hilari Muñoz, Departament d’Educació. Generalitat de Catalunya (Spain). Àfrica Pitarch, Departament de Geofísica i Georiscs, Institut Jaume Almera - CSIC, Barcelona (Spain). Hernando Royo, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad de Zaragoza. (Spain).

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ASMOSIA Executive Committee: President Prof. Yannis Maniatis, Director, Institute of Materials Science, N.C.S.R. "Demokritos", Athens (Greece). Secretary and Treasurer Dr. Per Storemyr, Researcher, Geological Survey for Norway, Trondheim (Norway). Honorary President Prof. Norman Herz, Department of Geology, University of Georgia (USA). Immediate Past President Prof. Lorenzo Lazzarini, Instituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia (Italy). Honorary Adviser Prof. Susan Kane, Department of Art, Oberlin College, Ohio (USA). Councilors Prof. John J. Herrmann Jr., Emeritus Curator, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (USA). Prof. Philipe Jockey, Université de Provence, CNRS, Centre Camille Jullian, Aix-en-Provence (France). Prof. Patrizio Pensabene, Dipartamento di Archeologia, Università di Roma La Sapienza, Roma (Italy). Media Relations Prof. Scott Pike, Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences, Willamette University, Salem (USA).

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Scientific Committee: Prof. Rafael Arana, Facultad de Química, Geología y Edafología, Universidad de Murcia (Spain). Prof. José Beltrán Fortes, Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Sevilla (Spain). Prof. Jean-Claude Bessac, CNRS, Institut Française du Proche-Orient, Damas (Syrie). Prof. Rosa Esbert, Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Oviedo (Spain). Prof. Vassiliki Gaggadis-Robin, CNRS, Centre Camille Jullian, Aix-en- Provence (France). Prof. Emilio Galán, Departamento de Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola, Universidad de Sevilla (Spain). Prof. Mª Ángeles García del Cura, Departamento de Geología Económica, Universidad de Alicante (Spain). Dr. Virginia García-Entero, Departamento de Historia Antigua, Universidad Nacional de Educación a distancia - UNED (Spain). Prof. Simon Keay, Department of Archeaeology, University of Southampton, UK, and Director of Archaeology, British School at Rome (Italy). Prof. Pilar León, Área de Arqueología, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla (Spain). Prof. Trinidad Nogales, Museo Nacional de Arte Romano de Mérida (Spain). Prof. José Miguel Noguera Celdrán, Departamento de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Antigua de la Universidad de Murcia (Spain). Prof. Salvador Ordóñez, Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales y de la Tierra, Universidad de Alicante y Universidad Internacional Menéndez y Pelayo - UIMP (Spain). Dr. Gobain Ovejero, Director Administración Relaciones Cobre Las Cruces Ltd., (Spain). Prof. Emanuele Papi, Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università di Siena (Italy). Prof. David P.S. Peacock, Department of Archeology, University of Southampton, (United Kingdom). Prof. Sebastián Ramallo, Departamento de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Antigua de la Universidad de Murcia (Spain). Prof. Oliva Rodríguez, Departameto de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Facultad de Geografía e Historia, Universidad de Sevilla (Spain).

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Prof. Robert Sablayrolles, Département Histoire de l'art et archéologie, Université de Toulouse II-Le Mirail (France). Dr. Begoña Soler, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche, Universitá di Roma La Sapienza (Italy).

Previous ASMOSIA meetings:

ASMOSIA I, 1988 - Lucca (Italy)

ASMOSIA II, 1990 - Leuven (Belgium)

ASMOSIA III, 1993 - Athens (Greece)

ASMOSIA IV, 1995 - Bordeaux (France)

ASMOSIA V, 1996 - Boston (USA)

ASMOSIA VI, 2000 - Venice (Italy)

ASMOSIA VII, 2003 - Thassos (Greece)

ASMOSIA VIII, 2006 - Aix-en-Provence (France)


Scientific Program 7

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM

MONDAY 8TH

REGISTRATION 08.30-09.30 OPENING AND WELCOMING ADDRESSES 09.30-10.30 - Prof. Francesc Xavier Grau, rector of the URV - Prof. Y. Maniatis, president of ASMOSIA - Prof. I. Rodà, president of the IX ASMOSIA Organizing Committee and director of the ICAC. COFFEE BREAK 10.30-11.00

SESSION: Applications to Specific Archaeological Questions. Use of Marble Chairman: Y. Maniatis 1. S. J. Barker 11.00-11.20 Marble salvaging in Antiquity. 2. P. Barresi 11.20-11.40 Huge column costs: some examples. 3. M. Corremans, P. Degryse and M. Waelkens 11.40-12.00 The import of coloured stone and white marble for the interior wall and floor decoration of public and domestic buildings at Sagalassos, Turkey. 4. B. Djurić, A. Maver, J. Davidović, I. Riznar, H. W. Müller 12.00-12.20 and D. Jovanović Use of marble and other stones in Sirmium. 5. V. Girardi Jurkić 12.20-12.40 The Roman cavae romanae quarry – the properties and use of the stone for the amphitheatre in Pula, Croatia. 6. J. J. Herrmann Jr., D. Attanasio, R. H. Tykot 12.40-13.00 and A. van den Hoek On the explotation of marble from Cap de Garde, Algeria. 7. S. Pike 13.00-13.20 The Acropolis marble project: stable isotope analysis of marbles from the Parthenon and Propylaea.



8. J. Pollini and W. Storage 13.20-13.40 Recutting Roman portraits: problems in interpretation and the new technology in finding possible solutions. 9. M. De Nuccio 13.40-14.00 Pentelic marble in theatrical architecture: examples from the theatre of Marcellus, Rome. PAUSE Chairman: Ph. Jockey 10. E. Lazzeri and G. E. Cinque 16.00-16.20 Marble polychromies in the walls’ and floors’ decorations of Hadrian’s villa in Tivoli: last discoveries and verifications. 11. D. Tambakopoulos and Y. Maniatis The search for the prehistoric marble sources in the Cyclades. 16.20-16.40 12. N. Toma The import of prefabricated architectural marble items 16.40-17.00 to Moesia Inferior. Provenance determination and technical aspects. 13. M. Gomez, E. Rulli and C. Preacco The architectonic marbles of Roman theatre of Augusta 17.00-17.20 Bagiennorum, Piedmont, Italy. 14. P. Pensabene On the production and the diffusion of column shafts 17.20-17.40 in grey cipolin marble from the quarries of Cap de Garde in Algeria. INAUGURAL LECTURE 18.00-19.00 J. Wagensberg. Stones are alive. OFFICIAL WELCOME 19.15 at the Main Hall of Tarragona by the Major of the city. Plaça de la Font, 1.



TUESDAY 9TH

SESSION: Provenance Identification I: marble Chairman: E. Galán 1. D. Attanasio, A. B. Yavuz, M. Bruno, J. J. Herrmann Jr., 09.00-09.20 R. Tykot and A. van den Hoek On the Ephesian origin of the Greco Scritto marble. 2. V. Gaggadis-Robin, K. Polikreti and Y. Maniatis. 09.20-09.40 Provenance investigation of marble sculptures from Butrint, Albania. 3. Y. Maniatis, D. Tambakopoulos, E. Dotsika, B. D. Wescoat 09.40-10.00 and D. Matsas ‘Sanctuary of the Great Gods’ – Samothrace, an extended marble provenance study. 4. F. Origlia, J. Spangenberg, I. Turbanti Memmi and E. Papi 10.00-10.20 A provenance study of marbles from the Roman town of Thamusida, Mauretania Tingitana, Morocco. 5. L. Lazzarini, M. Sediari and E. Soccal 10.40-11.00 Greek statuary of the Museo Archaeologico Nazionale of Venice: archaeological and archeometric studies. COFFE BREAK 11.00-11.40

Chairman: S. Pike 6. P. León, P. Lapuente, T. Nogales, M. Preite-Martinez 12.00-12.20 and H. Royo Sculptural materials from Villa Adriana: preliminary archaeometric results. 7. L. Del Pietro 12.20-12.40 Investigations on the white marbles of architectural elements in Salento, Southern Italy.

SESSION: Provenance Identification II : other stones Chairman: M. A. García del Cura 1. O. S. Angi 12.40-13.00 Antique natural stones used in historical buildings and monuments



on the historical peninsula of Istanbul, Turkey. 2. M. Varti-Matarangas and D. Dessandier 13.00-13.20

Lithofacies study of the building stones of Volubilis monuments (Morocco) and their provenance. 3. Ø. Jansen and T. Heldal 13.20-13.40 Medieval greenschist quarries near Bergen, Western Norway.

PAUSE

POSTER SESSION I 16.00-19.00

BOOKS PRESENTATION 19.00-20.00 A. Gutiérrez Garcia-M. Roman Quarries in the Northeast of Hispania (modern Catalonia). ICAC, Tarragona 2009 A. Àlvarez, V. García-Entero, I. Rodà and A. Gutiérrez Garcia-M., El marmor de Tarraco / Tarraco Marmor: Explotació, utilització i comercialització de la pedra de Santa Tecla en època romana / The quarrying, use and trade of Santa Tecla stone in Roman Times. ICAC, Tarragona, 2009 A. Àlvarez, A. Domènech, P. Lapuente, A. Pitarch and H. Royo, Marbles and Stones of Hispania. Exhibition catalogue. ICAC, Tarragona, 2009 OPENING EXHIBITION 20.00 Tarraco, pedra a pedra. Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona (MNAT). Pl. del Rei, 5.



WEDNESDAY 10TH

Chairman: P. Lapuente 4. A. Younès, M. El Gaied and W. Gallala 09.00-09.20 Identification of stone blocks used for the building of Thysdrus and Thapsus amphitheatres. 5. R. H. Tykot 09.20.09.40 Non-destructive elemental fingerprinting of obsidian and other lithic materials using the portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

SESSION: Advances in Provenance Techniques, Methodologies and Databases.

Chairman: L. Lazzarini

1. W. Prochaska and D. Attanasio 09.40-10.00 Tracing the origin of marbles by inclusion fluid chemistry. 2. J. Zöldföldi, B. Székely and P. Hegedüs 10.00-10.20 Missmarble: measurement and information system of samples of marble for archaeometric, art historian and restoration use. 3. V. Lamberto, P. Sá Caetano and J. Saraiva 10.20-10.40 Contribution to the knowledge of Portuguese marbles through multivariate analysis of qualitative and quantitative properties of the most common varieties. 4. S. Jarc, Y. Maniatis, E. Dotsika, D. Tambakopoulos 10.40-11.00 and N. Zupancic. Distinguishing Slovenia’s Pohorje marbles from other Mediterranean marble quarries. COFFEE BREAK 11.00-11.40

SESSION: Transport and Trade of Stones

Chairman: P. Pensabene 1. A. Kelany 11.40-12.00 Transportation methods in the ancient granite quarries at Aswan, upper Egypt. 2. J. C. Fant The elusive navis lapidaria and marble as dangerous cargo. 12.00-12.20



3. J. C. Fant 12.20-12.40 Locatio-conductio and the marble shipwrecks. 4. B. Russell 12.40-13.00 Shipwrecks and the Roman economy: the view from stone cargoes. 5. M. Unterwurzacher, C. Uhlir, K. Schaller and V. Höck. 13.00-13.20 ‘Historic Quarries’ - first results of a project within the EU Culture Programme. VIDEO PRESENTATION 13.30-14.00 of the exhibition Marbres, Hommes et Dieux. Vestiges antiques des Pyrénées centrales, Musée Saint-Raymond,Toulouse. PAUSE ASMOSIA General meeting 16.00-18.00 PRESENTATION AND VISIT TO EL MÈDOL QUARRY 18.00-20.00



THURSDAY 11TH

SESSION: Quarries and Geology: Quarrying Techniques, Organization, New Quarries, Stone Carving and Dressing, Quarry Risks and Preservation

Chairman: R. Sablayrolles

1. B. Russell and S. Fachard 09.00-09.20 New work on quarrying in the territory of Eretria. 2. G. Scardozzi 09.20-09.40 Ancient marble and alabaster quarries near Hierapolis in Phrygia, Turkey: new data from archaeological surveys. 3. M. Bruno, H. Elçi, A. B. Yavuz and D. Attanasio 09.40-10.00 Unknown marble quarries of western Asia minor. 4. L. E. Long and C. Stearns 10.00-10.20 The marble industry at Aphrodisias: new quarries discovered on the Aphrodisias regional survey. 5. L. Lazzarini and C. G. Malacrino 10.20-10.40 The white marble of Kos, its quarry and archaeometric characterisation. 6. D. Klemm and R. Klemm 10.40-11.00 The quarries of Silsila- Main source of ancient Egyptian sandstone architecture COFFEE BREAK 11.00-11.40

Chairman: S. Keay 7. T. Heldal 11.40-12.00 Interpreting the Unfinished Obelisk quarry, Aswan, Egypt: a new approach to quarrying techniques. 8. K. Džin 12.00-12.20 Cavae romanae, some examples of sculptural formation.



9. T. Kozelj and M. Wurch-Kozelj 12.20-12.40 Grey limestones quarries of Byllis, Albania. 10. P. Pensabene 12.40-13.00 The quarries at Luni in the 1st century AD: final considerations on some aspects of production, diffusion and costs. 11. J. Beltrán Fortes, O. Rodríguez, P. López and E. Ontiveros 13.00-13.20 The Almadén de la Plata quarries: new data from the latest interventions. 12. J. M. Noguera Celdrán, B. Soler Huertas, J. A. Antolinos Marín 13.20-13.40 and R. Arana Castillo The red travertine of Mula, Murcia, Spain. Management and administration of quarries in the Roman era. 13. A. Gutiérrez García-M. 13.40-14.00 Roman quarries in the northeast of Hispania (modern Catalonia, Spain). POSTER SESSION II 16.00-19.00 BOOK PRESENTATION 19.30-20.30 T. Nogales, J. Beltrán (eds.). Marmora Hispana: Explotación y uso de los materiales pétreos en la Hispania Romana. (Colección Hispania Antigua, Serie arqueológica 2) L’Erma di Bretschneider, Roma, 2009 ASMOSIA DINNER and ceremony of the best poster award. 21.00



FRIDAY 12TH

SESSION: Pigments and Paintings on Marble, Authenticity testing

Chairman: V. Gaggadis-Robin 1. M. B. Abbe, G. E. Borromeo and S. Pike 09.00-09.20 The marble technique, polychromy, and sculptural style of the ‘Karg-Bebenburg youth’. 2. C. Blume 09.20-09-40 Pigment vs the texture and colour of stone. To what extent was stone part of the polychrome appearance of Hellenistic sculpture?. 3. Ph. Jockey 09.40-10.00 Ancient polychrome and gilded sculpture: new evidences, new interpretations, new meanings.

SPECIAL THEME SESSION: Symbolism of Stones.

Local and Imported Materials.

1. I. Bald Romano, S. Pike, E. Gazda and R. Paris 10.00-10.20 Use and symbolism of Pentelic marble in Domitian’s Rome. 2. E. Bloxam 10.20-10.40 Solar symbolism and silicified sandstone consumption in dynastic Egypt: perspectives on the origins of its symbolic value. 3. B. Burrell and H. Parker 10.40-11.00 Phrygian for Phrygians: semiotics of ‘exotic’ local marble. COFFEE BREAK 11.00-11.40 Chairman: T. Nogales 4. P. A. Butz 11.40-12.00 The funerary poem of Origenes from Egypt: material issues and symbolism. 5. F. A. Cooper 12.00-12.20 Iconography of Hellenistic stonework. 6. M. Fischer 12.20-12.40 Imported marble and local stone in Roman and Byzantine Palestine: archaeological and isotopic aspects of centre and periphery.



7. S. Perna 12.40-13.00 The colours of Death. Symbolism of Roman cinerary urns in coloured stone. General Discussion IX ASMOSIA 13.00-14.00 Meeting candidatures new X ASMOSIA Conference. Rovira i Virgili’s University RECEPTION 14.00 Rectorate hall.

SATURDAY 13 TH

BROCCATELLO QUARRY VISIT 08.45

Visit to the quarries of brocatello or ‘jaspi de la Cinta’, the Cathedral and other monuments of Tortosa. Official welcome by the Major of the City.

SUNDAY 14 TH Guided visit to Tarragona (optional). 10.00


Posters List 17

POSTER SESSION I

The numbers indicate a provisional order. Some changes could be made. The final order will be announced before the opening of the poster session.

1. R. Albiach, E. García-Prósper and A. Gallego: The marble repertoire of the Roman villa of Cornelius, Valencia, Spain.

2. A. Àlvarez and J. Beltrán: Study of the materials from the ‘aula’ and baptistery of the Barcelona Episcopal Group.

3. A. Àlvarez and A. Pitarch: The local materials used in the Roman break of Martorell (Barcelona, Spain).

4. A. Àlvarez, A. Gutiérrez Garcia-M., A. Domènech, I. Moreno and T. Carreras: Study and characterization of the tesserae from the Roman mosaic of ‘Les Tres Gràcies’, Barcelona, Spain.

5. A. Àlvarez, A. Gutiérrez Garcia-M., A. Domènech, I. Moreno and T. Carreras: Study and characterization of the tesserae from the Roman mosaic of El Romeral, Albesa, La Noguera, Spain.

6. A. Àlvarez, J.M. Macias, J.J. Menchon, A. Muñoz, A. Pitarch and I. Teixell: The marmor use in the imperial cultual centre of Tarraco (Hispania Citerior Province).

7. D. Attanasio, M. Brili, M. Bruno, L. Ungaro and M. Vitti: Rome: white marbles in the fora of Caesar, Augustus and Trajan.

8. D. Attanasio, M. Bruno and A.B. Yavuz: The Aphrodisias marble quarries at Göktepe (Mugla, Turkey).

9. W. Aylward, D. Carlson, D. Laroche, J.C. Moretti and S. Pike: The temple of Apollo at Claros and the shipwreck at Crimson Cape: preliminary analysis of isotopic data.

10. B. Bajnóczi, B. Székely and J. Zöldföldi: Extended data base of fractal analysis (Fa), quantitative fabric analysis (Qfa) and cathodoluminiscence (CL) properties of south-east european and anatolian white marbles.

11. J. Beltrán, J. Espinosa, M.L. Loza and M. Romero: A study of the use in Roman times and a petrographic characterisation of the limestone from the western region of the ‘Surco Intrabético’ in the present-day province of Malaga (Spain).


Posters List 18

12. J. Bermejo: Catalog and preliminary analysis of marble and marble materials of the hispano-Roman city of Arucci / Turobriga (Aroche, Huelva, Spain).

13. Ph. Blanc, Ph. Bromblet, L. Long and L. Leroux: Provenance study of the white marble of a head of C.J. Caesar found in the Rhone river at Arles (France).

14. D. Brodhag, J. Chamay, D. Decrouez, A. Ebert, E. Gnos, H. Haas, P.A. Proz and K. Ramseyer: The source area of marbles used in Roman artefacts.

15. S. Brodhag, A. Ebert, E. Gnos, D. Decrouez and K. Ramseyer: Influence of second phases on microfabric of marbles from Naxos.

16. V. Brunet-Gaston and Ch. Gaston: The decorative stoneworks in the east of Roman Gaul: recent data of the archaeological operations.

17. R. Bugini, L. Folli and E. Roffia: Marble slab fragments from Desenzano Roman villas.

18. A. Calia, M.T. Gianotta, G. Quarta, M. Sileo and A. Antonazzo: The submerged stone blocks of Santa Sabina (Brindisi, Southern Italy): A contribution to the study of the provenance and trade in Antiquity.

19. F. Cavari, F. Droghini, M. Giamello, L. Lazzarini and C. Mascione: White marble artefacts from Populonia and the marble of Campiglia Marittima (Grosseto, Italy).

20. M. Cipriani, L. Lazzarini and S. Cancelliere: The white marbles of Roman Paestum, an archaeometric study.

21. M. Claramonte, C. De Santisteban, J. Benedito and J.M. Melchor: Ornamental materials found at Sagunto’s moorish quarter square.

22. D. Dessandier, F. Antonelli, L. Lazzarini, M. Varti-Matarangas, L. Leroux, M. Hamiane, C. Riache and C. Khalfallah: Atlas of ornamental and building stones of Djemila ancient site (Algeria).

23. E. Dobruna-Salihu: Sculpture of the foreign marble in the central part of Dardania (present day Kosova) during Antiquity.

24. J.A. Domingo, R. Arola and N. Gasull: The marbles of Jaume I: a group coming from the provincial forum of Tarraco.

25. B. Eglington and D. Attanasio: Sr, Pb and Nd isotope characterisation of classical marbles.


Posters List 19

26. E.A. Friedland and R.H. Tykot: Quarry origins of the marble sculptures from the Roman theatre in Philadelphia/Amman, Jordan.

27. K. Galor: Provenance study of a marble fragment with Menorah.

28. V. García-Entero and S. Vidal: Marmora from the Roman site of Carranque (Toledo, Spain).

29. M. Genera: Data for the study and identification of the origin of epigraphic supports: Some specific examples from Roman times.

30. M.T. Gianotta, A. Calia and G. Quarta: The Roman capitals re-used in the Saint-John sepulchre church in Brindisi (southern Italy): identification and provenance of marble.

31. M. Gomez: About the provenance of the ‘Serpentina verde rana filamentosa’.

32. M. Gomez: The white marble from Valle Varaita (Piedmont, Italy).

33. A. Gutiérrez García-M. and J. López Vilar: Roman marbles at the Tarraco of the Antoninans: the assemblage of Sant Pau and Santa Tecla Hospital (Tarragona, Spain).

34. J. J. Herrmann Jr.: Christian sarcophagi of reused marble in the Vatican.

35. M. Inglés, M.R. Manote, M. Ortí, J. Pey, E. Playà, L. Rosell and J. Yeguas: Geochemical methods in alabaster provenance: an application example.

36. B. Kidd and D. Attanasio: Determining white marble provenance of Greek and Roman sculptures in the Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri.

37. P. Lapuente, J.A. Cuchí, H. Royo, M. Preite-Martinez and C. Garcés: Roman sarcophagus known today as the tomb of King Ramiro II of Aragon. Archaeometric study.

38. P. Lapuente, H. Royo, M. Preite-Martinez and Ph. Blanc: Fragmentary white marble pieces from the theatre of Caesaraugusta: archaeometric results.

39. L. Lazzarini and M. Mariottini: A first study of the lumachellas used in Roman Antiquity.

40. C. Beltrame, L. Lazzarini and S. Medaglia: First results of the study and archaeometric analyses of the marble cargo of the Secca Di Capo Bianco (Crotone, Italy).


Posters List 20

41. E. E. Leka: Unfinished Kouros in the Mytilene archaeological museum and the supply of statuary marble in Lesbos in the Archaic period.

42. I. López: Stone from local quarries employed in Republican-era sculptures in southern Hispania: reliefs in Vrso and Estepa and exploitation of nearby quarries.

43. I. Mañas and O. Rodríguez: The opus sectile of the old curia of Ilipa (Alcalá del Río, Seville). Considerations on the use of stone in public architecture from Roman Baetica.

44. Y. Maniatis, D. Tambakopoulos and M. Sturgeon: Provenance investigation of two marble sculptures from ancient Stymphalos.

45. L.M. Martínez-Torres, L. Eguíluz, M. Loza and J. Niso: Almándoz marble (Navarra) in Roman thermae of Arcaya (Álava, North Spain).

46. A. Maver, I. Riznar and H.W. Müller: Roman capitals from Sirmium (Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia).

47. M. Glavičić and Z. Miletić: Stone productions of the quarries on the Island Brac (Brattia insula) in the Roman province Dalmatia.

48. A. Miras, M.A. Vázquez, E. Galán, C. Apostolaki and T. Marcopoulos: Suitability criteria in the selection of the Marble for restoration. The case of the Alhambra Palace (Grenada, Spain).

49. R. Neunteufel and J.Zöldföldi: Authentication of marble sculptures by provenance studies: new data base for south east Asian marbles.

50. A. Bartelletti, E. Cantisani, A. Amorfini, F. Fratini, E. Pecchioni and E. Pandeli: First evidence of the use of a serpentine in the floor of a ‘Villa rustica’ near Luni, Italy.

51. P. Pensabene and M. Preite-Martínez: Characterization and provenance of re-used architectural marbles in the churches of S. Clemente, S. Pietro in Vincoli, S. Stefano Rotondo, S. Maria in Domnica, Rome, Italy.

52. P. Pensabene and I. Rodà: The standard production of shafts of granite from Troas: examples from the Hispanic and African provinces.

53. P. Pensabene, F. Antonelli, S. Cancelliere and L. Lazzarini: Archaeometric analyses of sculptures and architectural elements of white marbles from Villa Adriana (Tivoli, Italy).


Posters List 21

54. R. Cebrián, R. Mar and P. Pensabene: Funds for public architecture and costs of the stone materials: the case of the forum at Segobriga.

55. P. Pensabene, I. Rébé and I. Rodà: The marmora from the forum of Ruscino (Château Roussillon, France).

56. V. Perdikatsis, Ch. Apostolaki and St. Markoulaki: Mineralogical petrographical study of tesserae from Roman mosaics from Kissamos (Crete).

57. D. Pivko: Building stone sources for Carnuntum Roman town and surrounding settlements in upper Pannonia (Austria, Hungary, Slovakia).

58. W. Prochaska and S.M. Grillo: The marble quarries of the metropolis of Ephesos and some examples of the use for marbles in Ephesian architecture and sculpturing.

59. O. Reyes, C. Pérez, E. Illaurregui, A. Àlvarez, A. Gutiérrez García-M. and I. Rodà: Marmoreal representation of Las Pizarras (Coca, Segovia, Spain): a Roman site.

60. P. Rodríguez Oliva: Stone in Roman Malaca (Spain).

61. M. Salán: The marmor of Espejón and its use in Roman Hispania.

62. D. Segal: The usage of marble and other imported stones on sites of Hippos-Sussita and the Bath at Hamat Gader (Gadara Termae, Israel).

63. B. Soler, J.M. Noguera, R. Arana and J.A. Antolinos: Evidence of the use of the marmor Saetabitanum in the Villa dei Quintili in Rome, Italy.

64. A. Šťastná, R. Prikryl and A. Černíková: Petrographic image analysis used in combination with C and O isotopic and cathodoluminiscence data for fingerprinting Czech marbles.

65. T. Stoyanov and D. Stoyanova: Stonecutting workshops at the Getic Capital Helis (NE Bulgaria) – Tools and techniques.

66. D. Taelman, F. Vermeulen, S. Deprez, M. De Dapper, P. De Paepe, P. Vandenabeele: Stone economy of Roman Ammaia (Portugal).

67. F. Van Keuren, D. Attanasio, J. Herrmann Jr., N. Herz, P. Gromet and D. Abramitis: Isotopic, EPR and petrographic analyses of 20 Roman sarcophagi at the Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome (Italy).

68. J. Zöldföldi: Database of white marble from the Indian subcontinent: a review.

69. J. Zöldföldi and M. Fischer: Provenance analysis of the marble from Elusa in Byzantine Palestine.


Posters List 22

70. J. Zöldföldi and R. Neunteufel: Provenance of the Bodhisattva marble head from Peshawar.

71. J. Zöldföldi and B. Székely: Carbon, oxygen and strontium isotopic systematics of white marbles used in the Antiquity.

72. J. Zöldföldi, K.T. Biró, A. Ruggeri, H. Taubald and O. Sosztarics: Investigation of Roman marbles from Savaria.

73. J. Zöldföldi, T. Schäfer and B.Székely: Provenance analysis of the three splendid marble heads of Pantelleria (Italy).


Posters List 23

POSTER SESSION II

1. X. Aguelo, A. Àlvarez and X. Nieto: Quarries used for building the Roman habour of Empúries, Girona, Spain.

2. K. G. Akoglu, E.N. Caner-Saltik and T. Topal.: Investigation on sandstone deterioration for developing consolidation methods.

3. A. Àlvarez, I. Rodà, M. Riera, A. Gutiérrez García-M. and A. Domènech: Provenance of some Roman marbles from El Pla de Ses Figueres (Cabrera, Balearic Islands, Spain).

4. T. J. Anderson and J.M. Fernández-Soler: A preliminary sketch of a lava rotary quern quarry in Cabo de Gata, Almería, Spain.

5. J. A. Antolinos, R. Arana, J.M. Noguera and B. Soler: The sandstone quarries of Carthago Noua: petrological characteristics and mining techniques.

6. R. Arana, J.A. Antolinos, B. Soler, J.M. Noguera: Quarrying, use and scope of Cabezo Gordo and Rambla de Trujillo marbles (Murcia, Spain) in the Roman era.

7. I. Arce: Late Antique and Ummayad Quarries from the Near East.

8. J. Beltrán Fortes, E. Ontiveros, O. Rodríguez, M. I. Carretero and P. López: Analysis of products from quarries Los Castillejos and Covachos (Almaden de la Plata, Sevilla). A comparative study.

9. A. Blanc and Ph. Blanc: Ancient uses of the Breche des Romains in Gaul.

10. M. Bruno: Quarry blocks in marmor Iassense from the Balik Pazari at Iasos (Turkey).

11. M. Bruno and M. Vitti: New cipollino marble quarries south of Karystos at Cape Mandhili (Evia).

12. R. Bugini and L. Folli: Ancient coloured marbles and their surrogates in the Milan Cathedral (late 16th century).

13. M. Buzov: The ancient quarries in Croatia (the technology of extracting stone).

14. E. Caner-Özler and E.N. Caner-Saltik: Decay of historic limestone and its conservation treatments with nanodispersive Ca (OH)2 solutions.


Posters List 24

15. E. N. Caner-Saltik, T. Topal, V. Toprak, A. Türkmenoglu, A. Tavukcuoglu, K.G. Akoglu, E. Caner-Özlez and T. Yasar: Development of management strategies for four ancient quarries in Turkey.

16. M. Chichikova and D. Stoyanova: On the instruments of the stonecutters, the architects and the painters of the royal tomb with Caryatids at the Cetic capital Helis.

17. N. Cueto, D. Benavente, J. Martínez-Martínez and M.A. García del Cura: Influence of mesofabric on water transport properties of continental limestones.

18. M. De Nuccio: The use of travertine covered with stucco in the Temple of Apollo Sosiano in the Circus Flaminius in Rome.

19. M. Delli Santi: Ancient marbles in Florence in 16th century: the Gaddi and Niccolini nobel chapels.

20. M. Devolder: Access to Ashlar as a symbolic resource in Neopalatial Crete (1700- 1450 a.C.n.).

21. M. A. Domagoj Perkic: Quarries, productions sites of Roman sarcophagi and stone urns in the southern border part of the province of Pannonia Superior.

22. I. Donelli: Ancient stone quarries on the eastern Adriatic coast emphasising Brac stone quarries.

23. M. El Gaied, A. Younès and W. Gallala: The stone of Sidi Ghedamsy island quarries (Monastir, Tunisia): from extraction to its use in building.

24. A. Fernández-Díaz and V. García-Entero: The imitation of marmora in Roman wall paintings in Hispania.

25. D. Fiorino, C. Garbarino, C. Giannattasio and S.M. Grillo: On site and laboratory investigation on the 16th-17th century masonries: the western Sardinian coast defensive towers.

26. M. A. García del Cura, D. Benavente, J. Martínez-Martínez and N. Cueto: Petrographic features and physical properties of certain travertine building stones.

27. M. García-Vallés, M. Aulinas, J.B. López and A. Moya: Petrographic study of the tubular cist with carved steles of Reguers de Seró (Artesa de Segre, Lleida, Catalonia).

28. M. Genera and A. Àlvarez: Ebro final lithic materials exploitation: extraction works, applications and chronology.


Posters List 25

29. A. Guinea, E. Playà, Ll. Rivero and M. Himi: Prospecting alabaster quarries with electric imaging.

30. M. I. Gutiérrez Deza: The use of local stone in Colonia Patricia Corduba, Spain.

31. A. Gutiérrez García-M. and J. Andreu: The Roman quarries of the town and territory of Los Bañales (Uncastillo, Zaragoza, Spain).

32. A. Gutiérrez García-M., J.A. Remolà Vallverdú and F. Tarrats Bou: Marbles from the Roman Villa of Els Munts (Altafulla, Tarragona, Spain) and their role in the decorative program. Preliminary approximation.

33. T. Heldal: Quarry Scapes done: results and perspectives for the future.

34. N. Ioannidou: Symbolism and historic aspects: lithic materials used at the Byzantine church (12 oc) of Taxiarch Michel of Mesaria in the island of Andros (Greece).

35. K. Kouzeli and Z.K. Antoniou: ‘Poroi’ in ancient constructions in Athens: nature, properties and state of preservation.

36. T. Kozelj and M. Wurch-Kozelj: The use of the saw during Roman and proto byzantine period in Thassos.

37. P. Lapuente, H. Royo, Ph. Blanc and M. Preite-Martinez: Fine grained marble quarries in the French Pyrenees: overview of petrography, cathodoluminescence and C and O isotope analysis.

38. P. Lapuente, H. Royo, J. Mandado, P. Galve and F. De A. Escudero: Local gypsum and alabaster used in Caesaraugusta (Hispania).

39. L. Lazzarini, D. Visona, M. Giamello and I. Villa: Archaeometric characterisation of some calcareous alabasters used in Antiquity.

40. A. Luque, G. Cultrone, E. Ruiz-Agudo, E. Sebastián and S. Siegesmund: Effect of termal expansion in marble deterioration.

41. A. Magagnini: ‘Pesi di basalto dal territorio romano’ or something else? Three stone artefacts from the Castellani Collection in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.

42. G. Meléndez, F. Colucci and J. Ramajo: Geoheritage evaluation of ancient quarry landscapes: the case of historical quarries in Aragon (Spain).

43. C. Miró and E. Revilla: The Roman quarry of Montjuïc (Barcelona, Spain).


Posters List 26

44. N. Molist and P. Otiña: The republican Roman and medieval quarry of Sant Miquel d’Olèrdola (Olèrdola, Barcelona, Spain).

45. M. I. Mota, M.A. Buergo, A. Pizzo and R. Fort: Provenance of construction stone from Roman monuments in Merida, Spain.

46. M. Mrozek-Wysocka and P. Zambrzycki: The characterization and state of conservation of building materials used in Greco-Roman times in northern Egypt: the case of Marina el Alamein archaeological site.

47. M. Ortí and M. Inglès: The recovery of Roman quarries as a symbol of artistic and technological modernity. The case of Catalonia in the modern age (16th-18th centuries).

48. A. Palmentieri: The imago clipeata of ‘Lucio Sitrio Modesto’. As an example of imitatio urbis in Campania (Italy).

49. I. Peña and P. Otiña: The Roman quarry of Palma de Mallorca (Spain).

50. M. E. Peroschi and Fl. Cambieri: Small quarries of the desert.

51. J. L. Prada, M. Badia, A. Àlvarez, O. Oms, R. Estrada and M.E. Arribas: Decay and conservation strategies of rocks containing dinosaur footprints: the case of several sites in the NE Spain.

52. I. Prieto: Mason’s marks on the orientalizing building from Pozo Moro (Albacete, Spain) and their relation with the southern palaoehispanic writings.

53. I. Rébé: The soapstone pots ‘pietra ollare’ in Roussillon: statement of discoveries.

54. R. Ribaldi and D. Gorostidi: Local stone in the monumental center of Tusculum (Latium, Italy): constructive use and epigraphical evidence.

55. I. Riznar, B. Djurić, A. Maver, G. Rutar, J. Davidović, H.W. Müller and D. Jovanović: Dardagani quarry: main regional limestone source for Roman Sirmium.

56. A. Rodríguez Colmenero and M. C. Carreño Gascón: Granite as the base, almost exclusively, for documents and monuments in the Roman Gallaecia.

57. P. Sá Caetano, V. Lamberto and P. Hasse Verdial: Ecclesiastical geology in the city of Lisbon.

58. B. Soler, J. M. Noguera, R. Arana and A. Antolinos: The painted marbles of Cartagena’s Roman theatre (Murcia, Spain).


Posters List 27

59. P. Spathis, E. Papastergiadis, B. Christaras, M. Mavromati and M. Loukma: Deterioration problems and preliminary observations on the conservation of the building materials of excavations of Navarino and Diikitrio, Thessaloniki.

60. P. Storemyr: A grinding stone quarry in the Egyptian Sahara.

61. A. Travé and J.D. Martín-Martín: Polishing problems in a ornamental limestone.

62. R. H. Tykot, J. Herrmann Jr. and A. Van Den Hoek: Survey and analysis of marble quarry sources in Algeria.

63. C. Uhlir, M. Unterwurzacher, K. Schaller and A. Zarka: Saxa Luquuntur: a comprensive interdisciplinary information system for antique quarries and monuments.

64. M. C. Üstünkaya, E.N. Caner-Saltik and A.G. Gözen: Detection of biological activity in calcareous stone by FDA analyses.

65. A. Van Den Hoek, J. Herrmann Jr. and and R. H. Tykot: Alabastro a Pecorella, aïn Tekbalet and Bou Hanifia, Algeria.

66. C. Weiss, R. Sobott and I. Gerlach: Ultrasonic and petrophysical investigations of monolithic limestone pillars at the Almaqah temple in Sirwah/Yemen.

67. D. Wielgosz: Provenance of marble statuary from Laodicea on the Sea (Latakia in Syria).

68. A. B. Yavuz, M. Bruno and D. Attanasio: A new source of Bigio Antico marbles: the ancient quarries of Iznik (Turkey).

69. G. Zachos and E. Leka: The ancient quarry of Pagani in Lesbos Island.

70. C. Mas, M. A. Cau, Mª E. Chávez, M. Orfila, A. Àlvarez, I. Rodà, A. Gutiérrez Garcia-M. and A. Domènech: Characterization of the stone used in an opus sectile pavement Pollentia (Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain).


Posters List 28


Abstracts oral presentations 29

ABSTRACTS

All papers have been printed in order according to the scientific program and according to the poster sessions lists.


Abstracts oral presentations 30


Abstracts oral presentations - Monday 8th 31

MONDAY 8TH

MARBLE SALVAGING IN ANTIQUITY

S. J. BARKER

University of Oxford, Hertford College, Catte Street, Oxford, OX1 3BW, United Kingdom; [email protected]

The practice of reuse had significant economic implications for the Roman marble trade, yet the salvage of marble is an often overlooked aspect of the marble industry. The stripping of decorative marble took place throughout the Empire in both public and domestic contexts as well as in large and small scale projects. After the fire of AD 64, for instance, the builders of the Domus Aurea carefully stripped the marbles from the Palatine Nymphaeum of the Domus Transitoria. Later, even when marble imports had been greatly expanded, the builders of the Baths of Trajan still thought it worthwhile to systematically strip the marble crustae and paving of the Esquiline wing of the Domus Aurea.

The aim of this paper is to discuss this unexplored aspect of the Roman marble trade. It will present evidence for the salvaging of marble in Roman Italy from the Imperial to the Late Roman period, drawing on examples from both public and private contexts. It will examine, where possible, the types of marbles being targeted, the extent to which marble was being stripped, as well as considering the quantities of marble being taken and the impact of such material on the marble trade. In addition, the practicalities of marble salvaging will also be considered. New excavation at Pompeii, for example, provides evidence on how marble flooring was removed and the use of 19th-century building manuals helps us realise the amount of labourers and man-hours involved in salvaging activities.

Such evidence will add new insight to our understanding of the use of marble in the Roman period and the economic implications of such salvaging. Indeed, adding quantities of recycled marble into our perception of building resources during the Imperial period will allow us to more accurately gauge the proliferation of marble use among various building projects undertaken by architects across the socio-economic spectrum.



HUGE COLUMN COSTS: SOME EXAMPLES

P. BARRESI

Universita’Kore Enna, Cittadella Universitaria – Enna, Italia; [email protected]

The problem of costs for marble columns in roman architecture has been recently dealt with, on the one hand, through the prices of various kinds of marble documented in Diocletian Edict; on the other hand, by quantifying the work needed to quarry, transport, place and complete a marble column shaft, both monolithic and divided in drums. Such results made it possible to get some rough estimates, used as indicators of the probable level of expense for the large column shafts, both in imported marble and in local stone. Nevertheless, in literary and epigraphic sources of roman age, there are no costs that it is possible to ascribe with certainty to marble column shafts of specified dimensions: the comparison of theoretic estimate with reality, so, remains the main problem to face, about the reconstruction of costs of roman columns. However, there are some epigraphic sources in hellenistic age that document the costs of large marble columns made of drums, particularly those of the Didymaion at Miletus: despite their dimensions are out of the ordinary (m 19,6), they are anyway comparable to those ones of large provincial temples in marble at Tarragona (roughly m 12). Starting from a recent reconstruction of costs of the marble columns in roman provincial temples at Tarragona, we are going to compare such costs with those known at the Didymaion and others marble building of hellenistic age. Economic and technical conditions in hellenistic Asia Minor were obviously very different from those ones in Roman Spain; but we believe that in this way it will be possible to compare the reconstructed and the real costs, and verify how far is from real data the theoretic expenditure level for marble columns.



THE IMPORT OF COLOURED STONE AND WHITE MARBLE FOR THE INTERIOR WALL AND FLOOR DECORATION OF PUBLIC AND DOMESTIC

BUILDINGS AT SAGALASSOS, TURKEY

M. CORREMANS, P. DEGRYSE, M. WAELKENS

Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Blijde Inkomststraat 21, Post Box 3314, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium; [email protected]

Through its long existence the site of Sagalassos has known several large building programmes during which huge quantities of stone have been used. While for structural purposes local limestone ashlars, brick, Roman concrete and mortared rubble masonry were the primary sources of material, high quality white marble and a wide variety of exotic coloured stone types were used for the interior decoration of public as well as domestic buildings.

For domestic contexts the wall veneer from a lavishly decorated room in a large 4th / 5th c. AD urban mansion at Sagalassos has been studied, while for public buildings research has concentrated on the Roman baths of Sagalassos. Apart from its monumental scope, the bath building also stands out for its sumptuously decorated interior. Inner walls and floors were almost entirely covered in white marble and exotic coloured stone.

According to macroscopic research, the material originates primarily from Docimeion, while a substantial quantity has been imported from different pockets of the Mediterranean, such as Greece, Tunisia and Egypt. Archaeometrical research, which comprises both petrographical and geochemical analyses, is necessary to back up these macroscopic findings and to determine the source of unidentified stone types and white marbles in particular. From preliminary archaeometrical results it is clear that most of the white marble has an origin in Docimeion. A fraction though has a different provenance, pointing in the direction of Naxos, Aphrodisias, the Pentelikon and Thasos as possible sources.

The most striking feature resulting from preliminary quantification of the material is the predominance of Docimeion-marble and the almost total lack of Proconnesian marble at Sagalassos. While Proconnesian marble can be found profusely in the cities along the Pamphylian coast, it is as good as absent at Sagalassos. The preference for the more expensive Docimeion-marble instead of the cheaper marble from Proconnesos is probably due to the difficult accessibility of Sagalassos from the Pamphylian coast, as opposed to the fairly easy supply route from Docimeion on the Anatolian plateau. Apart from several types of Docimeion-marble, cipollino from Euboia in Greece in particular has been used extensively to decorate the baths’ interior. The presence of the limited, though significant import of exclusive stone types, such as rosso antico, verde antico, porfido rosso, bianco e nero tigrato, granito del foro, giallo antico and porfido verde di Grecia can possibly be explained as recycled material from large building projects in other cities of the region.



USE OF MARBLE AND OTHER STONES IN SIRMIUM

B. DJURIĆ1, A. MAVER1, J. DAVIDOVIĆ2, I. RIZNAR3, H. W. MÜLLER4, D. JOVANOVIĆ5

1 University of Ljubljana, Dept. of Archaeology, Askerceva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; [email protected]; [email protected]

2Museum of Srem, Vuka Karadžića 3, 22000 Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia 3Ulica bratov Martinec 40, SI-1000 Ljubljana; [email protected]

4University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Institute of Applied Geology, Gregor Mendel Straße 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria; [email protected]

5Geological Institute of Serbia, Rovinjska 12, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia; [email protected]

The town of Sirmium (Flavian colony) is similar to other towns of Pannonia in that it has neither on site nor local quarries. For that reason, it met its needs for stone through import from regional and interprovincial sources. All to the end of the 3rd century AD, when it becomes one of the four capitals of the Empire, limestone from two sources (Dardagani Quarry, Bosnia and Herzegovina; quarry along the Danube, probably near Aquincum) as well as white Eastern Alpine marble (quarries at Gummern - Austria and on the Pohorje - Slovenia), was in exclusive use for various functions. These sources of stone all lie along rivers (the Drina, Danube, Drau/Drava) used for downstream transport to the town.

It is only with the change in the town’s status in the time of the Tetrarchy and the newly built architecture that came with it (palace, hippodrome, baths, temples) that material from Mediterranean sources appeared at Sirmium, which were transported from the Black Sea upstream the Danube and the Sava. Coloured marbles were coming from Egypt (Aswan, Wadi Hammamat, Wadi Umm Wikala, Gebel Fatireh, Gebel Dokhan), Tunisia (Chemtou), Asia Minor (Iscehisar, Vezirhan) and Greece (Kasabali, Karystos, Stefania), while white marbles were coming from Greece (Thasos, Paros), Asia Minor (Dokimeion) and Italy (Luni). Their use was strictly architectural – columns, veneering slabs for brick walls as well as flooring slabs (opus sectile), used in the combination with stones already known from the past. With the exception of column parts, there are no large architectural elements made from these materials, which is probably due to difficult transport to the place of use far inland.

The import of Mediterranean stones to Sirmium spanned probably only from the end of the 3rd to, primarily the first half of, the 4th century. Slabs of the above-enumerated materials appeared already in the 4th century in secondary use as tombstones on the cemeteries of Sirmium. We may suppose that the opulent architecture of Sirmium was devastated after the Gothic conquest at the end of the 4th century, even more so after the fall of the town in AD 441 (the Huns), and turned into a rich source of precious materials.



THE ROMAN CAVAE ROMANAE QUARRY – THE PROPERTIES AND USE OF THE STONE FOR THE AMPHITHEATRE IN PULA, CROATIA

V. GIRARDI JURKIĆ

International Research Centre for Archaeology, Brijuni-Medulin, Carrarina 5, p.p. 170, Croatia – 52100 Pula; [email protected]

The Roman quarry, Cavae Romanae, even today active as the Vinkuran quarry, is located 6 km south of Pula. The old, Roman-era abandoned quarry is on the western side of this area, while the Roman quarry covering a surface area of 2,500 m2, still in use today, is on the eastern side. Both quarries are situated in 30 m thick beds of rudist limestones of the Upper Cretaceous, Cenomanian. The limestone has been petrologically specified as rudist coquina limestone. Coquina limestone is today known on the market as Vinkuran fiorito or travertino, while coquinit and mikrocoquinit are known as Vinkuran unito or statuario.

The stone has a snowy white colour. After installation on the façades of buildings, particularly in urban settings, the stone acquires a grey tone over its surface after a relatively brief time. All of the described limestone variants were installed on the external wall surface of the amphitheatre in Pula.



ON THE EXPLOTATION OF MARBLE FROM CAP DE GARDE, ALGERIA

J.J. HERRMANN JR.1, D. ATTANASIO2, R.H.TYKOT3 AND A. VAN DEN HOEK4

1Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 23 Common St., Dedham MA 02026 –USA [email protected] 2ISM-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected]

3Dept. of Anthropology, USF, 4202 E.Fowler Ave., SOC107 Tampa FL. 33620 – USA; [email protected]

4Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge MA, 23 Common St., Dedham MA 02026 – USA; [email protected]

As is well known, marble was exploited in antiquity at Cap de Garde, near ancient Hippo Regius (Annaba, Algeria), and quarrying was revived there during the period of French control of Algeria. The marble is white and often exhibits wavy gray or black bands. Ever since Raniero Gnoli suggested the connection more than forty years ago, the quarries of Cap de Garde have been regarded as the source of Greco Scritto, the name traditionally given to medium to coarse grained, white or gray marbles bearing numerous thin convoluted black veins. Extensive fieldwork carried out in Algeria, Turkey and Greece, however, has clearly shown that the marbles of Cap de Garde rarely, if ever, resemble Greco Scritto. A study to be presented at this conference, however, makes it clear that the typical Greco Scritto comes from Hasançauslar near Epheso (see Attanasio et al.).

The marble of ancient Hippo, however, was not without considerable significance in antiquity. Hippo itself is full of architectural decoration in coarse-grained grayish-white or dark-banded marble that optically seems to come from its local quarries. The most splendid project at Hippo is the Composite colonnades of the city’s Flavian-period forum. Optical examination as well as isotopic, EPR and petrographic analyses carried out on artifacts make it clear that marble from Cap de Garde/Hippo was much used in eastern Algeria and Tunisia. Our identifications are based on extensive sampling in the quarries, sites, and museums of Algeria. Antonelli, Lazzarini, Cancelliere, and Dessandier have also identified marble from Cap de Garde at several sites in eastern Algeria and in Tunisia. Our trips to Algeria in recent years add other sites in these areas. In addition, examples of architectural decoration made of marble from Cap de Garde can be identified at Rome and Ostia in Italy. In these sites marble from Hippo is used for colonnades rather than veneering, which is the most characteristic application of Greco Scritto. In one Roman construction in Italy, Cap de Garde column shafts are grouped with shafts of Bigio Antico. It seems possible that shafts from Cap de Garde were looked at as an alternative for this gray and white marble from the Aegean. Composite capitals of the type seen in the Forum of Hippo are at times coupled with shafts of Cap de Garde marble and were evidently a specialty of the marble business of ancient Hippo.



THE ACROPOLIS MARBLE PROJECT: STABLE ISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF MARBLES FROM THE PARTHENON AND PROPYLAEA

S. PIKE

Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences,Willamette University 900 State Street, Salem, OR 97301 - USA; [email protected]

At the victorious end of the Persian Wars in 479 BC, Athens found itself in a new era of political and artistic expression. As Athens transitioned into one of history’s most dominant political and social empires, so too did its architectural program. Perhaps no other monuments speak to Athens’ growing influence than the Parthenon and other monuments atop the Athenian acropolis. Despite the cultural and symbolic significance of these monuments, relatively little is known about the social mechanisms responsible for the execution of their construction. Epigraphical records provide limited information regarding their design and production. There are incomplete records of ordering and payment of marble as well as payments to certain artisans. The records also reveal that the monuments were primarily constructed of Pentelic marble from the newly accessible Attic quarries on the southwestern flank of Mt. Pentelikon eighteen kilometers northeast from the acropolis. We know that the Parthenon was constructed in a seventeen-year span starting in 447 BC and was more or less completed with the addition of sculptural detail in 431 BC. Towards the end of the construction of the Parthenon, construction began on the Propylaea (437-432 BC) followed by the Athena Nike Temple (420s BC).

Considering the speed with which the monuments and their associated sculptural programs were completed, there must have been a robust project management system in place to oversee the operations of the marble quarries; the transportation of large marble blocks to the acropolis; the coordination between architects, sculptors, workmen and marble suppliers; and the infrastructure to support it all. The current research addresses these questions by correlating the marble used in different elements of the architectural and sculptural programs of the Acropolis monuments to their precise source quarry pits. An understanding of the spatial and temporal use of the Pentelic quarries will allow for an assessment of the supply and preferences of Pentelic marble. The project aims to determine (1) if different phases of building construction utilized marble from the same or different Pentelic quarries and (2) if the marble from a quarry or group of quarries was preferred for sculpture. Using the extensive Pentelic marble stable isotope database, this paper will report on the preliminary stable isotope study of twenty-five marble samples collected from architectural elements from the northeastern section of the Parthenon and six samples from various sections of the Propylaea.



RECUTTING ROMAN PORTRAITS: PROBLEMS IN INTERPRETATION AND THE NEW TECHNOLOGY IN FINDING POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

J. POLLINI1 AND W. STORAGE2

1 Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, Department of Art History, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089-0047 – USA; [email protected]

2 Software Engineer and Visiting Scholar, Department of History, University of California at Berkeley, Home address: 200 Brannan St. San Francisco, CA 94107

Memoria damnata, or the damnation of one’s memory, especially for political reasons, was a recurring phenomenon in the world of ancient Rome. As an expression of damnation, portraits of the leaders of Rome and their family members were recut into images of other individuals, usually imperial successors or other prominent personages. In some cases, images of important members of the imperial family who no longer played a key role in dynastic politics were likewise refashioned. Such recutting was a practical way of conserving sculptural works in marble, an expensive commodity in the ancient world. In the last thirty years or so, scholars have become more cognizant of the fact that a number of portraits, not previously recognized as recut, were indeed reworked in some way. But even when there is general agreement that a sculpture as been refashioned, debate has continued not only as to whose portrait was recut but also which portrait types of that person had served for the original image. This paper examines some of the problems in detecting recutting and how the new digital technology might be used to help us better understand the process of reworking marble portraits. More specifically, three-dimensional models of both recut and unrecut portraits can now be easily created by using a portable scanner commonly used in human craniofacial analysis. This technology can offer new insights into how portraits were refashioned. For example, a three-dimensional model of a portrait suspected to have been recut can be superimposed within the model of an unreworked portrait in order to determine how recutting might have been executed. Also discussed in this paper are some of the limitations in the application of this three-dimensional digital technology.



PENTELIC MARBLE IN THEATRICAL ARCHITECTURE: EXAMPLES FROM THE THEATRE OF MARCELLUS, ROME

M. DE NUCCIO

Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali, Comune di Roma, Roma, Italy; [email protected]

This paper is based on a vast survey carried out in the storehouses of the theatre of Marcellus. The goal is to contribute to the history of artistic production in Imperial Rome, especially in public buildings.

Recent research has pointed out the extensive presence of fine-grained white marbles, not only from the Carrara quarries, but also from the ones in Docimium and Aphrodisias.

We also considered it important to identify and quantify the presence of Pentelic marble, among the materials in storage, even if of unknown origin.

The cataloguing of the 20,000 marble fragments in storage in the warehouses of the theatre of Marcellus, carried out in collaboration with the Department of ‘Scienze della Terra’ of the University of Rome, La Sapienza, has not only the aim of providing an inventory, but is also an attempt at the identification of the function and possible origin of the fragments.



MARBLE POLYCHROMIES IN THE WALLS’ AND FLOORS’ DECORATIONS OF HADRIAN’S VILLA IN TIVOLI: LAST DISCOVERIES AND VERIFICATIONS

G. E. CINQUE AND E. LAZZERI

Università degli Studi di Roma, Tor Vergata, Facoltà di Ingegneria,via del Politecnico 1, Roma, Italy; [email protected], [email protected]

The introduced result derive from some searches in collaboration with Dr. Adembri (Soprintendenza per i beni archeologici del Lazio), and relative to the study of the Hadrian’s Villa. In particular, after some necessary digs to complete the intense activities of survey of the ‘Casino with Semicircular Arcades’, it has been possible to acquire elements of remarkable importance to understand some significant aspects of the parietal decoration in sectilia marmoreal, adopted in the imperial Villa, and to verify that this has been more complex and articulated - or from the geometric/proportion point of view or from the chromatic one - regarding how much till now thought. Ulterior executed digs to free from ruins one of the place at North of the Garden-Stadium - and, with this, to verify its assumed use function as single latrina - they have moreover allowed to recover, still in situ, part of the floor and parietal decoration, always in sectilia marmorea, through which it has been possible to find the quality of the assumed hypotheses with respect to the adopted decorative language. At last during the survey executed in 2003 on the Roccabruna, it has been possible to verify and to document the presence of mosaic floor decorations near the areas of the latrina; moreover the information obtained with the graphical restitution of the reliefs executed in the central room of the building, have allowed to reach the reconstruction of the complex gemetry of the top floor decoration, turned out partially dissimilar from that previously proposed from Guidobaldi. The studies lead on the floors and the single latrina, have concurred to assume that the building has been object of a restructure during the last years of the Hadrian’s age, as a result of which have been done some structural modifications associated to the realization of new floor decorations.



THE SEARCH FOR THE PREHISTORIC MARBLE SOURCES IN THE CYCLADES

D. TAMBAKOPOULOS1 AND Y. MANIATIS1

1 Laboratory of Archaeometry, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece; [email protected], [email protected]

The use of marble, for figurines (votives), vessels, tools and to some extend for building in prehistory and in particular in the Early Bronze Age is clearly evident in the Cyclades but wide spread all over the Aegean. Despite the abundance of marble finds, organized marble exploitation with visible tool-marks or evident quarrying places is only known from the archaic period onwards. The lack of specific quarrying regions in prehistory makes the creation of reference databases difficult and hence the provenance of prehistoric artefacts is quite demanding. In addition, the abundance of marble outcrops all over the Cycladic islands complicates, even more, the maters.

In order to approach this problem we decided to sample systematically the marble outcrops in the Cyclades based on the geological information in conjunction with the qualities of marble appearing in the prehistoric objects and in relation to the locations of prehistoric settlements but also independently of them. For this reason a survey was made and hundreds of geological samples were collected from the islands of Naxos, Ios, Keros, Amorgos (Nikouria), Syros, Irakleia and Schoinoussa. At first, the marble sources near prehistoric settlements were scanned, recorded and sampled and at second, using geological maps, local marble contractors’ information and field exploration, almost every marble source was investigated and sampled thoroughly. These samples are updating and completing the database of Cyclades that have been created by previous surveys and projects over the past 20 years.

The collected samples are being analysed by scientific techniques such as EPR spectroscopy, Maximum Grain Size (MGS) measurements, and Oxygen and Carbon stable Isotope analysis. The combination of the various resulting parameters is being used not only to distinguish the marble from different islands but also to separate the different marble outcrops in each island. Earlier analysis and provenance results of prehistoric objects are now being reconsidered under the new database. The work is still in progress.



THE IMPORT OF PREFABRICATED ARCHITECTURAL MARBLE ITEMS TO MOESIA INFERIOR. PROVENANCE DETERMINATION AND TECHNICAL

ASPECTS

N. TOMA

Institute for Classical Archaeology, Christian Albrecht University, Kiel, Germany; [email protected]

This paper focuses on the architectural items from two representative buildings constructed with imported marble in the cities of Tomis (Constanta/Romania) and Odessos (Varna/Bulgaria) and aims to discuss the results of provenance analyses (of 20 marble samples) and some technical aspects related to the finishing of imported marble products.

The time slot of this study is the 2nd Century AD, when the roman province Moesia Inferior, to which both Tomis and Odessos administratively belonged, was involved in a continued process of urbanisation and monumentalisation. One of the most evident aspects of monumentalisation is the construction of representative buildings made of marble. Since the region possessed no marble supplies, only the import of both material and specialized craftsmen made the realisation of marble architecture possible.

This case study analyses two roman representative buildings: the so called „Servilius Fabianus Building’ from Tomis and the Thermae from Odessos. Both buildings have been constructed with imported prefabricated architectural items and show different stages of construction. This paper will first present the results of the newly undertaken multivariate analyses used to determine the provenance of the imported marble and then discuss the technical aspects of executing imported material and stress out the impact of the marble architectural items on the development of architectural tradition in the region.

The preliminary results point out that the imported marble items come from the quarries of Proconnesos and that the marble transport was accompanied by specialized craftsmen from the North-western part of Asia Minor.

The above mentioned results are part of my PhD thesis „Marble and the Monumentalisation of the Urban Landscape of the Roman Cities. The Phenomenon of Marble Trade and its Consequences on the Roman Architecture and on the Appearance of the Roman Cities during 1st – 3rd Century AD ‘ This inderdisciplinary project is financially sustained by the German Research Foundation through the Graduate School Human Development in Landscapes of the University of Kiel (Germany) and is coordinated by Prof. Rumscheid (Classical Archaeology) and Prof. Schenk (Mineralogy).



THE ARCHITECTONIC MARBLES OF THE ROMAN THEATRE OF AUGUSTA BAGIENNORUM, PIEDMONT, ITALY

M. GOMEZ 1, E. RULLI1 AND C. PREACCO2

1 Politecnico di Torino; Torino, Italy; [email protected], [email protected] 2 Soprintendenza Beni Archeologici del Piemonte; [email protected]

The contribution outlines the investigations carried out on white and colored marble of the Roman Theatre of Augusta Bagiennorum, the current Bene Vagienna, in the southern Piedmont. The artefacts are mostly fragments of columns, slabs from floors and parietal claddings, frames of various shapes and sizes, credited as being the scene of the theatre.

The study of fragments showed the presence of white marble and bardigli lunensi, excluding the presence of white marble of Greek origin or local, however present in other Roman monuments of Piedmont.

Colored marble found are among the most popular in the first imperial age: giallo antico, cipollino greco, africano, greco scritto, rosso antico, breccia di settebasi.

The use of these marbles and the architectural features, particularly the front stage, as we can see for Augusta Bagiennorum, like Libarna and Augusta Taurinorum, to cite similar examples of Piedmont, remains into the theatre architecture still up to half of the 1st century and it is a common element indicative of the timing of the theatre. The same chronological context appears confirmed in use of lunense white marble like the only one white marble of architecture.

We show here the results of a systematic cataloging developed through the use of a database. Here we describe some three hundred stone elements identifying his petrographic characteristics compared with known samples, the origins, common uses (opus sectile, architectural elements, etc..) the types of processing, the state of degradation.



ON THE PRODUCTION AND THE DIFFUSION OF COLUMN SHAFTS IN GREY CIPOLIN MARBLE FROM THE QUARRIES OF CAP DE GARDE IN ALGERIA

P. PENSABENE

Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Città Universitaria – Ple A. Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italia; [email protected]

Employed in private residential buildings in Italy (late ‘domus’ at Ostia, Piazza Armerina Villa and the Villa at S. Vincenzino) and Spain, besides Africa (the Villa at Slinm near Leptis Magna) the grey cipolin marble is considered a stand by marble with respect to the more valuble grey marbles. It is though, also reported in public monuments from the late imperial age, often cut in large slabs for floor or also wall lining as it happens not only in Italy (Ostia, Terme del Nuotatore, Telesia, Terme di Teseos) or Africa (Bulla Regia, Uthina) but also in Ephesus in the sumptuous ‘marble hall’ , within a residential neighbourhood and despite the presence in the vicinity of caves of grey marble. Such a finding of grey marble in Ephesus should not be surprising if one considers the large import of ancient yellow and in particular of columns recently accounted for and put into relation with trade traffic due to the import of wheat by Paolo Barresi.

At Pergamom composed capitals have also been recorded as from Roman or anyway Italian workshops and a fact that can be explained within particular circumstances that made more economical the use of that marble. For the same reasons cargoes of goods coming from Africa must have include blocks of Cap de Garde marble so inexpensive to set off the transport expenses.

But in the caves of Cap de Garde have been recorded shafts of semi-worked columns since the nineteenth century and such a report , often mentioned by journeyers and geographers has lead us to investigate on what the diffusion and use of such manufacts might have been like. Along this line we have been supported by the presence of column shafts of this marble, in the bardiglia type and not in greco scritto in the cities of Proconsular Africa, among which Ippona. In particular, columns which can be assigned to these caves are recorded in cities such as Haidra, Bulla regia, Uthina– besides Ippona – the nearest to the caves themselves. At Ostia, such a marble can be attributed to column shafts employed in the portico of the forum, along the Capitol sides


Abstracts oral presentations – Tuesday 9th 45

TUESDAY 9TH

ON THE EPHESIAN ORIGIN OF THE GRECO SCRITTO MARBLE

D. ATTANASIO1, A.B. YAVUZ2, M. BRUNO3, J.J. HERRMANN JR.4, R. TYKOT5 AND A. VAN DEN HOEK6

1ISM-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected] 2D.E.Ü Engineering Faculty, Geological Engineering Dept., İzmir, Turkey; [email protected]

3Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected] 4Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 23 Common St., Dedham MA 02026, USA ; [email protected]

5Dept. of Anthropology, USF, 4202 E.Fowler Ave., SOC107 Tampa Fl. 33620, USA; [email protected]

6Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge MA, 23 Common St., Dedham MA 02026, USA; [email protected]

Greco Scritto is the name traditionally given to medium to coarse grained, white or gray marbles bearing numerous thin convoluted black veins. These veins are in some way reminiscent of unintelligible writing and explain the name given to this marble by the Italian marble collector Tommaso Belli in the mid 19th century. Raniero Gnoli first suggested that Greco Scritto might be a variety of the marble exploited at Cap de Garde, near the ancient Hippo Regius (Annaba, Algeria), where a white marble exhibiting dark gray to black wavy bands was quarried. The assumption, later endorsed by other scholars, slowly became widespread. Despite the lack of any clear proof, the provenance of Greco Scritto from Cap de Garde is now widely accepted, although more recent studies have conjectured that it would be present in every white-to-gray medium-to-coarse-grained known marble quarry.

Extensive field work carried out in Algeria, Turkey and Greece, however, has clearly shown not only that the marbles of Cap de Garde rarely, if ever, resemble Greco Scritto, but also that no Greco Scritto is present in most other medium-to-coarse-grained marble quarries such as Aphrodisias, Proconnesos, Paros, Thasos and Naxos. However, a recent survey of the region around Ephesos, where Greco Scritto is well attested and widely used, led to the discovery of several new quarry districts, in one of which a very typical Greco Scritto marble was extracted. The quarry, located near the village of Hasançauslar, 20 km NE of Ephesos, was briefly mentioned by M. Waelkens et al. in a general quarry survey report in 1986, without commenting, however, on the marble type. Visual inspection suggests that the Hasançauslar marble is the Greco Scritto used at Ephesos and elsewhere in the region. In addition isotopic, EPR and petrographic analyses carried out on quarry and artifact samples from Rome, Ostia and North Africa demonstrate without any doubt that most of the artifact samples in Greco Scritto originated in the Ephesian quarries.

Although marbles resembling Greco Scritto might have been occasionally quarried elsewhere, this study makes it clear that the huge Hasançauslar site was one of the major sources of this marble. It also supports the hypothesis that Ephesos marbles were extensively exported over long distances in antiquity and clearly shows that only a dark gray to black banded marble and not a Greco Scritto variety was produced at Annaba.



PROVENANCE INVESTIGATION OF MARBLE SCULPTURES FROM BUTRINT, ALBANIA

V. GAGGADIS-ROBIN1, K. POLIKRETI AND Y. MANIATIS2

1Centre Camille Jullian, CNRS, Université de Provence, 5 rue du Château de l’Horloge

BP 647 13094 Aix-en-Provence France; [email protected] 2Laboratory of Archaeometry, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece;

[email protected]

This study, undertaken in ‘90 during the greek-albanian archaeological mission of Butrint (Director Dr. C. Hadzis), aims at determining the provenance of a series of marble sculptures from this site. Two scientific techniques were used for the provenance investigation of the marble: Optical Microscopy (OM) and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy (EPR). All samples were first examined under the stereoscopic microscope, their texture evaluated and the Maximum Grain Size (MGS) of the marble crystals was measured. After the microscopic examination and measurement they were gently ground in an agate mortar and 220 mg of coarse powder was used for the analysis with EPR spectroscopy.

The vast majority, most probably all, of the Butrint marbles come from Greece and indicates a close cultural association of the site with Greece.

Regarding the specific provenance, the majority of the samples, 18 out of 23, were found to originate from the quarries of Pentelikon Mountain in Attica. One sample comes from the island of Proconnesus in the Sea of Marmara, another one from Paros and a third one from the island of Thassos. Only one marble sample was not given a specific provenance answer but the determination focuses on two possible places of origin, Hymettus Mountain in Attica or Carrara in Italy. The structure of the spectrum increases the probability for the Hymettian origin but Carrara cannot be excluded.



‘SANCTUARY OF THE GREAT GODS’ - SAMOTHRACE, AN EXTENDED MARBLE PROVENANCE STUDY

Y. MANIATIS1, D. TAMBAKOPOULOS1, E. DOTSIKA1, B. D. WESCOAT2 AND D. MATSAS3

1 Laboratory of Archaeometry, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece; [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected] 2 Art History Department, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA;

[email protected] 3 Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Archaeological Museum, GR-691 00 Komotini,

Greece; [email protected]

The ‘Sanctuary of the Great Gods,’ which extends over the north-west foothills of mount Hagios Georgios on Samothrace Island, is justly famous for its extraordinary architecture. While evidence for cultic activity reaches back to the 7th century BC, the Sanctuary rose to prominence in the second half of the 4th century BC with the introduction of major marble buildings. This trend continued over the Hellenistic period, culminating with the famous Nike Monument. It has long been assumed that the marble used in the construction of the monuments came from nearby Thassos. However, samples taken from a wide range of monuments in order to investigate the provenance of their marble reveals a more complex pattern.

A range of optical and physicochemical techniques were used for the investigation such as Maximum Grain Size (MGS) measurement, EPR spectroscopy and Oxygen and Carbon stable Isotope analysis in conjunction with several databases which were included in the comparisons. In addition, specific combinations of techniques and parameters were used in a stepwise methodological procedure in order to approach univocally the provenance of each marble piece.

The results show that various marble sources were used. The calcitic Thassian marble is extensively used for architectural elements. However, the façade of one building is Pentelic and its side and back walls Thassian. The Parian and Proconnesian marble of similar quality were mostly used for sculptures. The presence of Proconnesian marble for the capitals and frieze of the Propylon of Ptolemy II (c. 285-281 BC), a building otherwise constructed on Thassian marble, provides important evidence for the use of this marble in the early Hellenistic period. Other potential sources for marble were Naxos, Afyon and Ephesos but only given as possibilities for partially-resolved sample origins. Finally, the marble origin of the famous Nike of Samothrace statue in the Louvre Museum was confirmed as Parian with the analysis of remaining parts in Samothrace. Contrary to this, the dark grey marble used for the ship that forms the base of the Nike Monument is still under investigation but a strong candidate for origin is Aphrodisias.



A PROVENANCE STUDY OF MARBLES FROM THE ROMAN TOWN OF THAMUSIDA, MAURETANIA TINGITANA, MOROCCO

F. ORIGLIA1, J. SPANGENBERG 2, I. TURBANTI MEMMI1 AND E. PAPI3

1Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Siena,

via Laterino 8, 53100 Siena , Italy; [email protected], [email protected] 2 Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, University of Lausanne;

Anthropole, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; [email protected] 3Dipartimento di archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università degli Studi di Siena,

via Roma 56, 53100 Siena, Italy; [email protected]

In this communication we present the first results of a project which aims to get further insight into the origin of the stone material, in particular white and coloured marbles used in Roman times in the town of Thamusida, a river harbour in the Mauretania Tingitana province, northern Marocco. In the framework of this multidisciplinary archeological project, we want to get accurate (rather than indicative) data on the quarry source of the marbles found in this archaeological site. One of the aspects we are interested in is the exploitation of local raw material, that mostly consists of limestone and metamorphic marble belonging to Middle Devonian and Cambrian geological formations. For this purpose we collected a large number of stone materials from ancient and modern quarries, taking into account the ease of transportation to Thamusida as well as trying as many different lithotypes as possible. For what concerns the archaeological material, all the available artifacts were sampled and analysed. Both the archaeological and geological materials have been submitted to a detail mineralogical, petrographic and geochemical study, including optical microscopy, SEM, X-ray diffractometry, analysis of major an trace elements by X-ray fluorescence, and stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis.

The result of archaeometric analyses confirm partly the local exploitation of stone materials: coloured lithotypes (red and grey organic limestones) found in a few inscriptions and in a capital can be quite certainly localized in one of the new sampled quarry. On the other hand, concerning white marbles, a comparison with literature databases suggests Italian, Greek and Turkish provenance, while local material can be excluded in most cases because of strong differences in petrographic features and isotopic composition.



GREEK STATUARY OF THE MUSEO ARCHEOLOGICO NAZIONALE OF VENICE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ARCHEOMETRIC STUDIES

L. LAZZARINI1, M. SEDIARI2 AND E. SOCCAL3

1Laboratorio Analisi Materiali Antichi (LAMA), Dipartimento di Storia dell’Architettura, Università IUAV di Venezia, S. Polo 2468/B – 30125 Venezia, Italia; [email protected]

2Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Veneziano, S. Marco 6 – 30100 Venezia, Italia; [email protected]

3Dipartimento di Archeologia, Università degli Studi di Padova, P.zza Capitaniato 7 – 35100 Padova, Italia; [email protected]

One of the most important groups of the Greek original statues present in Italy is preserved in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale of Venice. These sculptures arrived in Venice as the prestigious imports of ancient trade and commerce with the Levant of the Serenissima Republic during the 15th and 16th c., in fact they all belong to the famous Grimani and Contarini collections. 23 statues mostly dating back to 5th-3rd c. BC, including the remarkable group known as the ‘Grimani’s statues’, were sampled and submitted to archaeometric analysis consisting in the minero-petrographic examination of thin sections and the stable-isotope analysis of C & O. The aim of this study was to identify the marble of the sculptures and to understand the ateliers and, when it is possible, the original archaeological context. The results indicate too major types of marbles, namely Pentelic, Parian (from Stephani and Lakkoi), Thasian (from Cape Vathy). The different types of marble account for different workshops and probably varied archaeological provenances, contrary to the hitherto most accredited opinions.

These results in some ways support also the hypothesis of the arrival of the statues at Venice in successive periods, thus demonstrating a continuous interest in classical antiquity of the learned Venetians families.



SCULPTURAL MATERIALS FROM VILLA ADRIANA: PRELIMINARY ARCHAEOMETRIC RESULTS

P. LEÓN1; P. LAPUENTE 2; T. NOGALES 3, M. PREITE MARTINEZ 4 AND H. ROYO2

1.Seminario de Arqueología. Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain; [email protected] 2Petrología y Geoquímica. Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected],

[email protected] 3.Museo Nacional de Arte Romano, 06800 Mérida, Spain; [email protected]

4Scienze della Terra Dpt., Universitá ‘La Sapienza’, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italy; [email protected]

The study of sculptural materials from Villa Adriana (Tivoli) constitutes a broad and complex nucleus of investigation in which numerous researchers have been involved from different approaches.

During the 2006 to 2008 archaeological expeditions of the Pablo Olavide University project on Villa Adriana, diverse labours of cataloguing and documentation were carried out on the sculptured collections stored in the reserves of the Villa, always under the tutelage of the ‘Sopraintendenza Archeologica di Lazio’.

From all the documented collections, different cycles, programs and sculptured themes can be determined. One of the complementary scopes carried out during the last expedition was the selection of pieces for submitting to later archaeometric analyses. These are evidently from diverse provenance not only in their material origin but also in the features of manufacture and workshops. From the hundreds of examples, in different states of fragmentation, a set of 67 cases were sampled after visual examination by the Zaragoza University researchers. Most of them were carved on white fine grained marble, but also medium and coarse ones were selected. Four examples of very dark grey to black were chosen as possible ‘Nero antico’.

They were investigated under petrographic microscope, cathodoluminescence and C and O stable isotope analyses. This paper presents the preliminary results of the scientific analyses of their marbles. The combination of techniques applied confirms the predominance of Carrara but also points to a variety of marble quarry sources in Greece and Turkey. Some samples were not given a specific provenance answer but the characterization focuses on the possible places of their origin.



INVESTIGATIONS ON THE WHITE MARBLES OF ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS IN SALENTO, SOUTHERN ITALY

L. DEL PIETRO

Dipartimento di Scienze Archeologiche - University of Pisa – via Galvani 1, 56100 Pisa, Italy; [email protected]

The research represents a contribution for Roman history of Salento, district of southern Apulia (Italy). This paper presents the results of the archaeological and archaeometric study of fifty architectural elements in white marble, discovered over the years and today scattered in Salento in historical centres of some towns.

They include very different typological groups of artefacts: capitals, column-shafts, cornices, column-bases, architraves and other kinds of architectural elements. Several of these pieces were unpublished and went unnoticed or assigned differently by macroscopically observations. The chronology of these elements is between the end of the first century BC. and the third century A.D.

The archaeometric study was carried out to identify the white marbles and determine their provenance. The study of a great numbers of architectural elements offered the opportunity to consider the utilisation of different marble qualities in Roman Salento. After all needed authorizations by the ‘Soprintendenza della Puglia’, small samples of marble were taken from all the architectural elements with the collaboration of the researchers of the IBAM-CNR of Lecce, in particular A. Calia, M.T. Giannotta and G. Quarta.

Samples were subjected to five different analytical methods: X-ray diffraction and observations of thin sections by transmitted light optical microscopy were made at IBAM-CNR of Lecce; geochemical analyses to determine the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen using a mass spectrometer were carried out by Mauro Brilli at IGAG-CNR of Rome; petrochemical analyses using neutron activation analysis was realized by Massimo Oddone at University of Pavia; LIBS spectroscopy was made by Vincenzo Palleschi and Stefano Legnaioli at IPCF-CNR of Pisa. Special thanks are due also to Professors Claudio Arias and Giovanna Tedeschi of University of Pisa.

The data obtained from all analyses were processed and put together to establish marble provenance. Although it emerged some technical limits and some interesting historical problems, it was possible to identify most of all Proconnesus, even if some elements are in Greek marbles and Carrara marbles.



ANTIQUE NATURAL STONES USED IN HISTORICAL BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS ON THE HISTORICAL PENINSULA OF ISTANBUL, TURKEY

O. S. ANGI

Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Faculty of Mines, Geological Engineering Department,Ayazaga Campus, 34469, Maslak-Istanbul, Turkey; [email protected]

Located on the coasts of the strait detaching two continents, Asia and Europe, are separated through the ‘Bosphorus’, a narrow sea passage. Having a history of over 2500 years, Istanbul has been a significant center of trading ever since the initial years following its foundation on this strategic district where the land embraces the sea. Istanbul was once a capital of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires, three important world civilizations. Surrounded by city walls of Roman ages and positioned on seven hills, Istanbul is adorned with especially mosques, palaces, castles, churches, obelisks, aqueducts, cisterns, fountains, statues, sarcophaguses belonging to the mentioned ages of civilizations.

Architects of mentioned historical buildings and monuments in Istanbul mainly made use of the sources of construction material available around the city. Nevertheless, natural stones in varying types, patterns and colors, supplied from other countries according to orders of emperors and sultans, who demanded for unique buildings. Such natural stones (e.g. Greece, Egypt, Italy, Norway etc.) generally used to be imported via marine transportation, without regarding high costs. Also, some other stones collected from other buildings and their remains were used in construction.

Natural stones of varying origins were used for purpose of ornamental, structural and coating on interior and exterior varying parts of historical buildings and monuments in Istanbul. The stones used in these buildings mainly used to be supplied from nearby districts; however, stones in a large spectrum of colors and patterns were also supplied from abroad for major structures (e.g. Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sofia, etc.) and Ottoman social complexes (e.g. Süleymaniye mosque, Blue mosque etc.). Especially, Prokonnesos marble (Marmara Island), Bakırköy (Istanbul) fossiliferous limestone (küfeki stone), Hereke (Nikomedia) conglomerate (pudding stone), Dokimeion (Afyon-Iscehisar) brecciated marble, Vezirhan (Bithynia) limestone breccia and Troad (Ezine-Kestanbol) granite within the country are among the most important of these miscellaneous natural stones, in addition to colored natural stones such as Aswan granite, Ancient red and green porphyry, serpentine breccia, Verona marble, larvikite, Egypt metaconglomerate from abroad. There are a large number of ancient quarries in Turkey, especially in Aegean and Marmara Regions, exploited since Ancient Greek and Roman ages. Among those, the important antique quarries in Prokonnesos, Nicaea, Bithynia, Alexandreia Troas, Dokimeion and Ephesos were operated for many ages.

This study shall touch upon geological characteristics of antique natural stones used in some significant historical buildings and monuments on Historical Peninsula of Istanbul, their origins and places of use.



LITHOFACIES STUDY OF THE BUILDING STONES OF VOLUBILIS MONUMENTS, MOROCCO, AND THEIR PROVENANCE

M. VARTI-MATARANGAS1 AND D. DESSANDIER2

1Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Olympic Village, entrance C, Acharnae 13677, Greece; [email protected] /[email protected]

2BRGM, 117 Avenue de Luminy, B.P. 168, 13276 Marseille Cedex 09, France; [email protected]

In the context of the 6th Framework of R.T.D.D Programme and the MEDISTONE research project, the carbonate building stones of Volubilis of monuments, are investigated using geological field work studies and laboratory methods relevant to microfacies analysis and isotopic analysis.

The ancient city of Volubilis or Qualili (the Berber name), which is located 35 Km north of Meknes city of Morocco, has been listed at UNESCO’s World Heritage List ‘considering that this site is an exceptionally well preserved example of a large Roman colonial town on the fringes of the Empire’.

Based o the field and laboratory methods (microfacies analysis, isotope analysis, quantitative analysis and mineralogical composition of insoluble materials), the characteristics of the stone are determined: color, lithology, sedimentary structures, fractures, microfacies characteristics (grains, matrix, fabric, fossils, porosity), diagenetic features (cement types, stylolites), the amount and the mineralogical composition of non-carbonate minerals e.t.c. These criteria characterize the lithofacies types that can be compared with those of lithofacies types of ancient quarries. Moreover, they control the endogenic deterioration factors of stones and their study is a prerequisite for the definition of the causes and decay mechanisms of the building stones and the selection of materials and techniques to be applied for their conservation and restoration.

Thus, in the Volubilis archaeological area (NE part, mainly), three main categories of sedimentary stones were determined: a) marly limestones, 2) calcarenites and 3) gray massive limestones. In the third one which is the most common in the monuments, three lithofacies were determined. In summary and according to the up today data the following lithofacies can be distinguished: Lithofacies A: Silty wackestone/packstone rich in pelagic fossils and terrigenous admixture (marly limestone), Lithofacies B1: Beige-yellowish calcarenite rich in terrigenous materials, Lithofacies B2: Beige-yellowish calcarenite rich in terrigenous materials, Lithofacies B3: Beige-pink poroys cacirudite rich in terrigenous materials, Lithofacies C1: Beige-grey pelloidal grainstone/packstone, Lithofacies C2: Gray coated bioclastic grainstone, Lithofacies C3: Gray ooid/ coated grainstone/packstone and in less amount the Lithofacies D: ochre gray bioclastic limestone rich in bivalves, Lithofacies E: coarse dolomite and Lithofacies F: continental limestone.

The deterioration of the building stones used exhibits a large range among the various lithofacies. Thus, the Lithofacies A presents the greater degree of deterioration while the Lithofacies C1, C2, C3 present the minor degree of deterioration. In the present study, the causes for the large range of the degree of deterioration of the building stones are investigated among the endogenic factors.

The provenance of all these lithofacies has been determined based on the same criteria which characterized the lithofacies types and compared them with the lithofacies of adjacent outcrops and ancient quarries.



MEDIEVAL GREENSCHIST QUARRIES NEAR BERGEN, WESTERN NORWAY

Ø. J. JANSEN1 AND T. HELDAL2

1University of Bergen, Bergen Museum, Natural History Collections, N-5020 Bergen, Norway; [email protected]

2Geological Survey of Norway, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway; [email protected]

In the Hatlestrand area, approximately 50 km to the southeast of Bergen, western Norway, a group of quarries occur in a unit of soft, talc-bearing greenschist. In the 1970s, these were recognized as the major Norwegian source of baking slabs in the Medieval Period. Baking slabs were made from thin slabs of stone for the purpose of making very thin bread (‘flat bread’), a tradition unique to parts of Scandinavia since the early 12th Century. This type of greenschist was suitable for the purpose, due to its splitting properties and the talc content, due to which the slabs had a high heat storage capacity. A recent study of the quarries revealed traces of extraction of ashlars and roofing slate in addition to baking slabs.

Another greenschist quarry (the Gravdal quarry) is situated 20 km from the Hatlestrand quarries. At this site, the greenschist does not contain talc, and there are no traces of baking slab production. However, clear signs of ashlar quarrying bearing a medieval ‘signature’, including typical tool marks from pick axes, are found. The greenschist from the two quarry sites look similar, but they are different in mineralogy and geochemistry.

Given the evidence of ashlar production at both the quarry sites, most likely from the Medieval Period, a key question was for what purpose. The remains of two medieval churches in the region provided the answer. The 12th Century Onarheim church, 15 km from the Hatlestrand quarries, displays building stones of greenschist. Geochemical analyses of Sr/Nd isotopes (TIMS) and trace- and main elements (XRF; ICP-MS) confirm provenance from the Hatlestrand quarries. In the walls of the Rosendal Barony building at the south side of the Hardanger Fiord, stone blocks of greenschist are assumed to represent re-use of masonry from the nearby 12th Century Mel church (now disappeared). Preliminary studies suggest that the Gravdal quarry is a more likely source than the ones at Hatlestrand.

The study gave some interesting new views on the medieval stone procurement in the area. It confirms a pattern of rural churches having a much more dispersed origin of the stones in their masonry than the city churches, where few quarries supplied the building of many churches at the same time. Further research along these lines may shed more light on who the builders were.


Abstracts oral presentations – Wednesday 10th 55

WEDNESDAY 10TH

IDENTIFICATION OF STONE BLOCKS USED FOR THE BUILDING OF THYSDRUS AND THAPSUS AMPHITHEATRES

A.YOUNÈS, M. EL GAIED AND W. GALLALA

Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales de Tunis , 94 boulevard 9 Avril 1938. Tunis, Tunisia; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Two varieties of local stones (calcareous rubble stones and sandstone blocks) have been widely used in eastern Byzacium buildings during the Roman period.

Rubble stones were mainly employed in private constructions, whereas sandstone blocks were widely used for building public monuments such as amphitheatres. Indeed, both Thysdrus (El Djem) and Thapsus (Ras Dimas) amphitheatres were built with squared oolitic sandstone blocks extracted from the quarries situated on the dune line (Rejiche formation: about 125 000 BP). Several ancient quarries have been identified on the dune line near the town of Thapsus and at a few kilometers from the town of Thysdrus.

Yet, the question now is to try to determine which of these quarries provided the blocks used for the construction of both Thysdrus and Thapsus amphitheatres. In order to answer this question, a survey has been led in the ancient quarries and in the ancient sites in eastern Byzacium. A comparative study has also been made between the sizes of still visible traces of cut or pre cut blocks left on the quarry faces and the sizes of blocks used for building both amphitheatres. Moreover, mineralogical and petrographic analyses have been carried out in samples taken from blocks employed in the walls of each amphitheatre and blocks from the quarry faces.

The results show not only that a few quarries may have provided blocks for the building of both amphitheatres, but also reveal that the stone used for the construction was not of very good quality.



NON-DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENTAL FINGERPRINTING OF OBSIDIAN AND OTHER LITHIC MATERIALS USING A PORTABLE X-RAY FLUORESCENCE

SPECTROMETER

R. H. TYKOT

Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 USA; [email protected]

Determining the source of stone used in antiquity for tools, weapons, decorative, and architectural purposes has been a regular area of research for some time, since it provides direct data for interpreting trade and exchange, and indirect evidence about socioeconomic systems, political organization, and religious practices in ancient societies. Yet until recently the destructive nature of most methods of chemical analysis, and the cost and time necessary to do such analyses has often limited research projects of substantial size. A major advance in the last few years has been the development and availability of portable, non-destructive X-ray fluorescence spectrometers which can do analyses of major and trace elements with very good sensitivity and precision, in just a few minutes. Some of these instruments can analyze samples of any size, whether they are solid, powder, or liquid in form, and run on batteries for a significant length of time, enabling their use at quarry and archaeological sites, as well as in museums and laboratories. Being non-destructive, rapid, and not even requiring artifacts to be transported anywhere clearly reduces the difficulties of obtaining permissions, and the overall time and cost for a project.

Several examples will be briefly presented to illustrate my own applications of portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometers to stone materials. These include trace element analysis of obsidian artifacts to identify sources and subsources in the Mediterranean and other regions; identification and characterization of other stone materials; and determining whether a marble object is calcitic or dolomitic. These successful applications should lead to serious consideration of this instrument for future studies where samples cannot be removed and/or the cost for a large study would otherwise be prohibitive.



TRACING THE ORIGIN OF MARBLES BY INCLUSION FLUID CHEMISTRY

W. PROCHASKA1 AND D. ATTANASIO2

1Department of Applied Geological Sciences and Geophysics,

University of Leoben, A- 8700 Austria; [email protected] 2ISM CNR, via Salaria km 29.3, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy;

[email protected]

Conventional analytical methods applied to pinpoint the origin of marbles often do not discriminate in sufficient detail between marbles of different provenance. Therefore an additional technique for characterizing marbles was developed. The proposed method is based on the ‘crush and leach’ analysis of extractable total dissolved solids –TDS- from marbles and carbonate rocks in general. Samples available from sculptures etc. in general are very limited in size, therefore heterogeneity is one of the main problems of conventional provenance detection methods, using the chemical or isotopical composition of marbles to pinpoint their origin. The results from fluid inclusion investigations of carbonate rocks show that the fluid phase is usually relatively uniform with respect to its chemical composition. Metamorphism is an isochemical process and does not homogenize the chemical differences of the protolith (carbonate sediments in the case of marbles). The method presented here is based on the analysis of the chemistry of inclusion fluids which in general have been very well homogenized during metamorphic recrystallization.

The composition of the extracted solutes depends on the depositional environment of the original carbonate rock (seawater, evaporation brines, primary dolomitization effects etc.) and on the post-depositional alteration of the inclusion fluids in the marbles.

In this paper a preliminary databank of white marbles (> 700 quarry samples) from different sites in Asia Minor (Aphrodisias, Afyon/Docimium, Proconnesos, Ephesos) and from classical Greek localities like Paros (Parian lychnites, Marathi, Chorodaki), Pentelikon etc. will be presented. Included in the dataset are the chemical composition of main elements and those trace elements which are related to the carbonate phase, stable isotope data and the anionic and cationic composition of the inclusion fluids (Li+, Na+, K+, F- Cl-, Br-, I-, and SO42¬-). Some case studies are presented to demonstrate how to distinguish between marbles of different origin, which are often problematic in conventional provenance studies (e.g. Proconnesos-ParosII or Penteli-Afyon). More than 100 new analyses of marble samples from Ephesos are presented where the characterization of the different quarries on the basis of isotopes is ambigious. It is demonstrated that on the basis of inclusion fluid chemistry, very good intrasite discrimination can be achieved.



MISSMARBLE: MEASUREMENT AND INFORMATION SYSTEM OF SAMPLES OF MARBLE FOR ARCHAEOMETRIC, ART HISTORIAN AND RESTORATION

USE

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI 1, B. SZÉKELY 2 3 AND P. HEGEDÜS 4

1Institute of Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasse 56, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany; [email protected]

2Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstr. 27-29, A-1040 Wien, Austria; [email protected]

3Department of Geophysics and Space Science, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary

4 Arany János út 1, H-7754-Bóly, Budapest, Hungary; [email protected]

As results of various analytical measurement techniques on rock samples, in the course of provenance or comparative studies, a lot of quantitative, material specific data are gathered and compiled. Despite the large amount of data available, only a part of them will be published, because the standards for raw data publication are quite different from the requirements for research publications. During a research project the data are compiled and stored on different media often decentralised in databases of specific formats. Since the metadata and auxiliary information on the measurements are basically available only for the originating researcher, there is a great need for data integration. Data storage, access and safety can be assured via co-ordinated activity of the data producers.

The aim of the MissMarble project was to develop an interdisciplinary data base management system for analytical results of marble occurrences (geological samples) and marble artefacts (archaeological and architectural objects). The system is characterised by user friendly interfaces for data entry, storage, continuous dissemination, and exchange. Furthermore, the system provides practical hints to understand the techniques applied on various samples and relate them to other literature data. The goal of the developed system is to provide help for data comparison, provenance analyses and to reveal missing analytical results. The various user groups have different access rights. Beside of the editors, contributors are a special user group who are allowed to enter their own analytical results. Conceptually to the system manages the results of analyses of both type of material (archaeological and geological samples) together to handle the data in the same manner. It enhances the overlaps and the gaps in the analytical results defining the further analyses to be done.

The data entries are organized in the following scheme: sample identification; methods applied on the sample; colour and fabric; mineralogical composition; textural properties; chemical and isotope geochemical composition; engineering physical properties. Dependencies on the sample type: for the geological samples the geological classification (age, facies); and for the archaeological samples the archaeological description of the objects; probable provenance (if determined); and conservational and restoration experience.

The system is designed so that further amendments and extensions are possible without data loss. It is updated and tailored according to the experience gathered during its use: the users can provide feedback via a pinboard system. The system functionalities, data structure and data content are regularly revised according to the requirements of the users and data providers. However, the amendments should be done so that the changes do not hamper the comparisons with the previous data and applied methods.



CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF PORTUGUESE MARBLES THROUGH MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE AND

QUANTITATIVE PROPERTIES OF THE MOST COMMON VARIETIES

V. LAMBERTO1, P. SÁ CAETANO2 AND J. SARAIVA3

1CERENA/IST, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; [email protected] 2CT/UNL, Quinta da Torre, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; [email protected]

3ERENA/IST, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; [email protected]

This paper presents a set of relationships, similarities and differences among various types of marble exploited in Portugal, namely in the Marble Zone (Estremoz - Borba - Vila Viçosa), an important mining area of this country, and between these and other Portuguese marbles (e.g. Trigaches).

The importance of the Estremoz Marble Zone, as it is frequently referred to, is given by the fact that over 36 varieties of marble are produced there, corresponding to approximately 75% of all marbles and to 25% of all Portuguese catalogued ornamental stones. Stone exploitation in the region has been well known since Roman times, attaining its production peak during the second half of the XXth century. Presently, less than 100 quarries are known to still be active, although in earlier days this number reached around 400.

Based on data obtained from the various catalogs of Portuguese ornamental stones, three major sets of information concerning these materials - physical-mechanical properties, chemical composition and ornamental pattern - , are analysed with the support of several data analysis tools, such as basic statistics and multivariate statistics.

From a universe of approximately 50 varieties, relationships between different variables are established, allowing to understand and/or recognize behaviours and other properties of this variegated and long-lasting rock material (e.g. ageing, block dimension), and helping to define discriminant criteria (e.g. geological origin, geographical provenance, texture) that may help trace the source of these materials and understand the logic of their applications over time.



DISTINGUISHING SLOVENIA’S POHORJE MARBLES FROM OTHER MEDITERRANEAN MARBLE QUARRIES

S. JARC1, Y. MANIATIS2, E. DOTSIKA2, D. TAMBAKOPOULOS2 AND N. ZUPANCIĆ1

1Department of Geology, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Askerceva 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; [email protected] and [email protected]

2Laboratory of Archaeometry, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece; [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected]

Slovenia was a part of the great Roman Empire so many objects in its archaeological sites were constructed from marble. The most probable local source would be the Pohorje Mountains. Five outcrops were sampled and Mineralogical, Petrographic and Geochemical analysis, Stable Isotope Ratio analysis, and EPR spectroscopy were performed in order to characterise them and to compare them with the other known ancient marbles in the Mediterranean and Austria.

All of the investigated Pohorje marble samples consist of up to 95% carbonate minerals, predominantly calcite with some dolomite content and lenses. They are crystalline, with a mixed homeoblastic to heteroblastic structure and mosaic fabric. The maximum grain sizes of all samples exhibit great variability and the values of MGS vary from 1mm to 6mm. The geochemical composition shows no perceptible local variations. A t-test of independent samples and cluster analysis only showed small but not significant differences between the marble quarries. The isotopic signatures throughout the massif generally show high oxygen depletion (-15.62 to -6.45‰ PDB), in some cases reaching quite extreme values (-15.62‰). The values of δ13C in the southern marble outcrop lie between 1.61 and 2.3‰ and are quite higher and distinguishable from the rest of the eastern Pohorje marbles (0.11‰ to 1.25‰). The results of EPR spectroscopy also reveal large variations. When a combination of isotopic and EPR parameters: δ13C, the log Mn2+ peak and the Width, are used and treated with discriminant analysis distinguishing between the different Pohorje marble outcrops is possible.

The global position of the Pohorje marbles in the overall isotopic field of various known ancient quarries is dubious. A great overlap occurs between the Pohorje marbles and the Carinthian Gummern Roman quarries of nearby Austria and certain degrees of overlap with some Aegean and Asia Minor quarries. The position of the Pohorje marbles in the EPR – MGS field also exhibits some overlapping with several ancient quarries, especially with the Austrian Gummern-Krastal.

Anyhow the use of multi-technique approach with combined parameters allows distinguishing Pohorje marbles from other ancient quarries.



TRANSPORTATION METHODS IN THE ANCIENT GRANITE QUARRIES AT ASWAN, UPPER EGYPT

A. KELANY

Supreme Council of Antiquities, Aswan Office,

Sadat St., reside TV building. Aswan, Egypt; [email protected]

Recent surveys, excavations and geophysical exploration have shed new Light on the methods used to transport very large stone objects, such as obelisks and colossi, in the famous Aswan granite quarries. Evidence of roads, embankments ans specially manmade Canals has been found within the quarries and between the quarries and the nearby Nile River. The paper will focus on the actual application of these features, also supported by epigraphic data, in order to move objects from the quarries to the Nile, where they were loaded on barges.



THE ELUSIVE NAVIS LAPIDARIA AND MARBLE AS DANGEROUS CARGO

J. C. FANT

Department of Classical Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology

University of Akron, Akron OH USA 44325-1910; [email protected]

Two points that emerge from a close look at the shipping of marble sit uneasily next to each other. One is that the navis lapidaria, a term of art we have all been using since Rouge’s magisterial l’Organisation du Commerce maritime en Méditerranée sous l’Empire romain (1966), did not really exist, either as a term or as a type of ship. The other is that marble, in large units like blocks and columns, must have one of the most dangerous and demanding of cargoes for ancient freighters. Hence we would expect that shipwrights would develop special adaptations, if not specialized forms of ship design, to accommodate it; but none can be seen.

Rougé cited two sources for his use of the phrase lapidaria navis. One is Petronius, Satyricon (117.112). This scaberous scene was intended to make a joke, not to document varieties of naval architecture. Petronius is pointing to a kind of cargo, not a kind of ship. The other source, much cited by scholars, is Pliny the Elder, who does not use the phrase navis lapidaria but does say that ships were built ‘for the sake of marble’ (NH 36.1.2, navesque marmorum causa fiunt). But once we look at the context, it resolves itself into an introduction to the narrative about the the great Roman obelisk ships. They are all that Pliny has in mind, not a new class of freighters.

The second point is that marble was dangerous. Pieces of stone weighting several tons could not be thrown overboard in bad weather; thus captains had surrendered a proven tactic to save a ship in distress every time they left the quay (St. Paul’s ship, Acts 27). If pieces of marble shifted in the hold, the ship could take on a permanent list, leaving it unable to right itself from a roll. Still worse, if columns or blocks rolled against the inside of the hull. the hull could be cracked like an eggshell.

For these reasons we are entitled to look for structural innovations to handle this cargo that might parallel the innovative thinking behind the dolia ships of the Julio-Claudian period. Yet there appear to have been none-- although we must make a serious reservation concerning the scarcity of hull remains from marble ships and look to our colleagues in maritime archaeology for the new developments on this front.



LOCATIO-CONDUCTIO AND THE MARBLE SHIPWRECKS

J. C. FANT

Department of Classical Studies, Anthropology and Archaeology

University of Akron, Akron OH USA 44325-1910; [email protected]

If Titius the trader wanted to move his goods across the Mediterranean, he would approach Seius the ship captain and contract with him for carriage. In Roman law, such contracts of locatio conductio, hire and lease, were consensual, bona fide contracts, which meant that they needed no set form of words to create legal consequences, just an object, a price, and agreement, which the parties were expected to execute in good faith. Since they were considered part of the ius gentium, universal law, Roman citizenship was not required. Through a careful accounting of responsibility and liability, women, dependent sons, and even slaves could enter into valid contracts which would obligate their principal, the exercitor, the one who ‘worked’ the ship for profit, whether the owner, lessee, or usufructuary.

Locatio-conductio contracts for carriage could be of three forms: locatio-conductio loci in nave, hire of space in the ship; operarum, services of the captain in providing the transport; or locatio-conductio navis per aversionem, hiring the ship outright for a flat fee. There were advantages for each party in all three arrangements. It is interesting to note that, in general, the captain was always free to carry deck passengers in addition. St. Paul’s ship, a large Alexandrian freighter in the service of the Imperial Annona, carried 276 passengers.

As Ben Russell has shown, stone could be carried in any kind of ship and as any percentage of the cargo. The dedicated marble carrier seems to be a phantasm, although indeed some cargoes may have been limited to stone. The three legal forms easily cover all the situations the stone wrecks suggest. A large cargo of marble belonging to the Roman emperor, like that of the Granitola A ship, may have been chartered outright; in this way the emperor’s agents could specify that the captain make no detours for cabotage, ensuring the safest and speediest voyage possible. For marble earmarked for a building project, this is obviously desirable. For a cargo divided between sarcophagi, which were not the emperor’s property, and marbles in block form, which generally were, a contract for space in the hold or services of carriage would be more economical. This also nicely explains the mixed cargo of the Punta Scifo ship, with its inscribed pavonazzetto columns and mix of objects in white Phrygian marble and Proconnesian.



SHIPWRECKS AND THE ROMAN ECONOMY: THE VIEW FROM STONE CARGOES

B. RUSSELL

Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom OX2 6QA;

[email protected]

This paper explores what an analysis of the known wrecks of stone-carrying ships can add to our understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics of maritime exchange systems in the Roman Imperial period. Over eighty wrecks datable to between the 2nd century BC and 4th century AD will be discussed. Some of these consist of large cargoes of coloured marble blocks, others of far smaller quantities of less prestigious material, occasionally alongside other objects. While a significant amount of this overseas movement was the result of imperially-orchestrated redistributive systems linking the major quarries at which imperial control is attested and building projects at Rome and elsewhere, a sizeable proportion of this distribution was the result of private commerce. All levels of observable activity need to be included in discussions of ancient shipping.

More unpublished sites certainly exist but this sample allows some interesting conclusions to be drawn about the organisation of the maritime distribution of stone in the Roman world. As the most permanent material vestiges of antiquity, stone objects have a great deal to add to more general debates of ancient shipping and its role in the economy. With this in mind, this paper examines three main topics. Firstly, the chronological and geographical distribution of these wrecks and what it can add to our understanding of broader developments in long-distance commerce and shipping routes; and particularly, what it adds to our analysis of the problems of dealing with shipwreck evidence. Secondly, the size and character of the cargoes and what they can reveal about the types of vessels being used in different periods. Thirdly, the composition of the various cargoes and what it can tell us about the organization of maritime commerce. This last topic is central to wider debates on the character of ancient seaborne trade and the relative importance of indirect and direct commerce in the Roman period.

This paper argues that the importance of stone objects in discussions of ancient maritime commerce has been underestimated. The chronology of stone wrecks differs markedly from that of others wreck types, while their distribution shifts decisively during the course of the first three centuries AD. In this sense, stone wrecks add an important extra dimension to our understanding of maritime commerce in the Roman period.



‘HISTORIC QUARRIES’ – FIRST RESULTS OF A PROJECT WITHIN THE EU CULTURE PROGRAMME

M. UNTERWURZACHER, C. UHLI, K. SCHALLER AND V. HÖCK

Archaeometry and Cultural Heritage Computing Research Group (CHC). Department of Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, A-5010 Salzburg, Austria;

[email protected], [email protected]

The project, granted in 2008, focuses on historic quarries as a significant part of our cultural heritage in Europe. These quarries and the skills involved in quarrying dimensional stone can be considered as the starting point of Europe’s architectural and sculptural heritage. In the 20th century, most of these sites became disused and hard to access, becoming partly re-cultivated or used as dumping grounds. The project will employ modern approaches to present and safeguard the knowledge of historic quarry sites and landscapes. On the transnational level, it will demonstrate best practice concerning how to compile and use data and information on these sites, and how to formulate ideas and implement measures to use historic quarries for modern cultural purposes once again.

The project is supposed to give the following impact and objectives:

• Recognition of historic quarries as an important form of cultural heritage in itself.

• Improved access to the historic quarry heritage of Europe.

• Recognition of the potential benefits which historic quarries provide for contemporary art and for cultural heritage

• Development of new strategies and best practice to reveal historic quarries in the cultural dimension

• Developing best practice in terms of providing access to quarry sites and to information on historic quarries to the

general public, to multipliers and to academic experts, including restorers and conservators.

The following results of the project are expected:

• Online information system including a database of 2000 historic stone quarries in different countries of Europe (AT, SK, HU, CR, SI, RO and PL), providing in-depth geographical, historical and petrographic information (data, descriptions, maps and pictures).

• Best practice in using the database for construction research on different architectural heritage sites

• Best practice in utilising disused quarries in the field of culture and education via

- guided tours to historic quarries

- museum exhibition on stone and quarries

- artistic intervention on a quarry site

- additional methods to be created in the course of the project


Abstracts oral presentations – Thursday 11th 67

THURSDAY 11TH

NEW WORK ON QUARRYING IN THE TERRITORY OF ERETRIA

B. RUSSELL1 AND. S. FACHARD2

1Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom OX2 6QA; [email protected]

2École Suisse d'Archéologie en Grèce, Skaramanga 4b, 104 33 Athens, Greece; [email protected]

This paper presents new evidence for stone extraction in the territory of Eretria. Two newly explored areas of coloured marble quarrying will be presented, both datable to the Roman or Late Roman period.

The first of these quarrying districts is located in the south-east of Eretrian territory at a newly discovered site called Myrtia. The quarries here cut through the walls of a Classical to Hellenistic fort and presumably date to the Roman period. Several high quarry-faces, large debris piles, a number of squared blocks, some with stepped edges, as well fragmentary monolithic columns are preserved at the site. The stone being extracted was green cipollino, similar in composition to the material quarried in the hinterland of Styra, 15km further south. This is, therefore, the most northerly cipollino quarry to be identified to date. Stone from the site was presumably exported from the superb natural harbour at Panagia, near Almyropotamos, 4km distant. There is also, however, suggestive evidence for limited local use of the stone, unusually for sarcophagi. One roughed-out example at the quarry is of similar dimensions to two finished pieces found near the village of Messochoria, just to the south.

The second quarrying district is located further north, in the centre of Eretrian territory, close to modern Aliveri, ancient Porthmos, an important Late Roman centre. The most well-known stone to come from this region is the Aliveri grey limestone, used only rarely in antiquity but extensively exploited today. Behind the modern quarries, however, in the area called Choraphia Ekklissias, near the village of Lepoura, several quarries of a red recrystallised limestone almost identical to marmor chalcidicum (fior di pesco) have been identified. Monolithic columns abandoned in these quarries would appear to date them to the Roman or Late Roman period. Lazzarini and his team have already published work on the extant quarries of marmor chalcidicum in the immediate vicinity of the city of Eretria (ASMOSIA VI), but these new quarries add an interesting extra dimension to our understanding of the source of this material.

In addition to presenting these new coloured marble quarries, this paper will discuss several additional details about the quarrying of marmor chalcidicum at the known quarries near Eretria. This will include presentation of survey data from the area around the quarries where a monolithic column shaft and evidence for a system for moving blocks downhill from the site have been recorded in recent years.



ANCIENT MARBLE AND ALABASTER QUARRIES NEAR HIERAPOLIS IN PHRYGIA, TURKEY: NEW DATA FROM ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEYS

G. SCARDOZZI

CNR-IBAM, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali, Strada per Monteroni, c/o Campus Universitario, 73100, Lecce, Italy; [email protected]

The paper concerns some results of research activities conducted in 2005-2007 in the ancient territory of Hierapolis in Phrygia, in cooperation with the Italian Archaeological Mission. During archaeological surveys in the area surrounding the city, finalized to the reconstruction of ancient topography of the territory, numerous ancient marble and alabaster quarries were identified, extensively used for the urban buildings and the necropolises from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine period; therefore, the alabaster was also exported. A lot of them were not known before, so recent researches provide many new data for both the knowledge of the Hierapolis ancient quarries and the provisioning of building materials for the city.

The geologic characteristics of the area of Hierapolis provided abundant, different and good stones for buildings. All quarry faces show clear signs of heavy pick and are also visible accumulations of debris; sometimes a few semi-finished materials are abandoned in the extraction sites. In particular, numerous quarries of white and white-grey marble were found about between 1 and 3 km north of the city; the stone, medium- to large-grained and sometimes with greyish bands and veining, was largely used for the structural elements in Hierapolis. In an area sited 1,5-2 km north of the city there is a reddish breccia, scarcely considered in the studies on the building stones in Hierapolis but used in much monuments of the city, for pilasters, columns, plutei and other architectural elements; three main quarrying faces and one trench for the extraction of this stone were found during survey.

Characteristic of the area of Hierapolis are also different types of alabaster, the so-called listato, fiorito and a ghiaccione, which have been identified with the coloured marble of Hierapolis mentioned in the Classical and Byzantine literary sources and exported even to Rome and Constantinople. Before the recent researches, only two ancient extraction sites of these types of alabaster were known: one smaller immediately north of Hierapolis and another larger 13 km north-west of the city, near the village of Gölemezli. During archaeological surveys, numerous ancient quarries of alabaster were found in the area immediately north and north-west of the city. They are very long and deep trenches excavated in fissure-ridges of bedded travertine for the selective extraction of the alabaster included in the central fissure of these ridges; often the bedded travertine of the ridges was also extracted and extensively used for the monuments of Hierapolis.



UNKNOWN MARBLE QUARRIES OF WESTERN ASIA MINOR

M. BRUNO1, H.ELÇI2, A.B. YAVUZ2, AND D. ATTANASIO3

1Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected] 2Dokuz Eylül Uni., Torbali Vocational School, Torbalı/İzmir, Turkey, [email protected]

3ISM-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected]

The serendipitous discovery of the Göktepe marble quarries, first reported at the last ASMOSIA conference (Aix-en-Provence, 2006), raised again the known, but often overlooked problem of unknown ancient marble sources. In order to obtain some better knowledge of marble use, exploitation and trade additional field work was undertaken in western Anatolia searching for ancient marble quarries still unreported .

About 20 new quarry sites were discovered during several survey campaigns carried out in the years 2006-2008. Some of them, like the huge Bigio Antico quarries near Iznik (ancient Nicea) or the Greco Scritto quarries of Hasançauslar in the region of Ephesos were barely or completely unknown. Others are still actively exploited, but their role in ancient times has been totally ignored. This is the case of the Pavonazzetto-like marbles near Milas (Milas Lilac). An other small Pavonazzetto quarry was discovered close to Aphrodisias, where also a huge unknown white marble district could be located. In the Karaburun peninsula, not far from Izmir, several breccia quarries are present, while a new unknown Breccia Corallina quarry was discovered near Manisa, NE of Izmir.

The survey allowed also to expand the size and importance of known sites like the Teos-Seferhisar quarries reported by Ballance in 1966, where additional Africano quarries were identified. Little known sites such as the white marble quarries of Stratonikeia or the Beyler breccia quarries, where a Skyros-like breccia used at Ephesos was produced, were also surveyed and sampled.

A complete overview of all the newly discovered quarries will be presented. Detailed studies of single sites are also under way and will be reported in due course.



THE MARBLE INDUSTRY AT APHRODISIAS: NEW QUARRIES DISCOVERED ON THE APHRODISIAS REGIONAL SURVEY

L. E. LONG AND C. STEARNS

University of Michigan. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology 434 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, USA; [email protected]

Abundant resources of fine marble were crucial to the urban development of Aphrodisias, and to its famous local sculpture tradition. The historical importance of Aphrodisias as a workshop, or ‘school’, of virtuoso sculpture was developed in the early 20th century when French and Italian excavations were carried out at the site. By the time large-scale excavations began in the 1960’s, the belief that local workshops shipped both their statues and their sculptors across the empire was well-established and began to influence archaeological interpretations elsewhere. The flourishing crafts that took root there and the prosperity of the city were partially explained by the close proximity of quarries, located 2 km. north of the site. The Aphrodisias Regional Survey’s investigations of the city’s marble industry present new evidence and calls into question these ideas.

The project had had two parts: geological reconnaissance of the surrounding Morsynus River valley, and archaeological examination of the regional marble quarries. Investigation of the quarries included sampling of the marbles for 18O and 13C isotopic analyses, and interpretation of the stratigraphy of the marbles across the survey area. In addition to the well known ‘city-quarries,’ eight previously unknown quarries have been identified, documented and sampled. Samples were also taken from selected buildings and sculptures at Aphrodisias. Mesozoic marbles from the newly discovered quarries on the south side of the valley yield isotopic signatures similar to published values for the ‘city quarries.’ A previously unknown source of Paleozoic marble bears unique carbon and oxygen signatures. Archaeological samples from several of the major buildings in the civic center match the quarry samples, showing that ancient prospectors targeted both the Mesozoic white coarse grained and Paleozoic mottled blue/grey and white marbles.

The identification of numerous new quarries shows that the municipal industry at Aphrodisias was much larger than previously assumed. Even so, comparison between estimates of the volume of marble removed from the regional and city quarries and the volume of marble used in the adornment of the city suggests that the local stone was used largely to meet local demand, and could not have been exported in great quantities.



THE WHITE MARBLE OF KOS, ITS QUARRY AND ARCHAEOMETRIC CHARACTERISATION

L. LAZZARINI AND C. G. MALACRINO

Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Università Iuav di Venezia, S.Polo 2468 – 30125, Venezia, Italy; [email protected], [email protected]

The use of white marble in ancient times on Kos characterises the extraordinary building programme with which the town reached the status of a great Hellenistic capital between the end of the 3rd and the 2nd c. BC. The remains of imposing urban complexes testify to this abrupt development that included a new agora and the great gymnasium. These two monuments where characterised by long porticoes whose architectural elements still show stonemasons’ marks testifying to careful organisation of the worksites. Also some cultural complexes, like the huge Aphrodision near the port, were totally reconstructed with white marble after the damage caused by the earthquake of 199-198 BC. At the origin of this expansion we consider the availability and exploitation on a large scale of the local quarries of white marble opened in several fronts on the very steep southern slopes of Mount Dikaios, close to the sea and in the place now called Marmara. These quarries, which were already known thanks to the geological studies of M. Neumayr and to the field work of I.E. Zarraftis, are still unpublished. After some exploration made in 2005, and the obtaining of the permission of the Ephoria of the Dodecannese, it was been possible in 2008 to study the ancient cutting fronts and the organisation of the quarry, including the slipways and deposit of blocks. A representative sampling of the marble facies was also made. The samples were then subjected to an archaeometric investigation, namely to minero-petrographic and geochemical analysis (by XRD, OM on thin section, SIRA). The results obtained point to a remarkably pure marble, often slightly dolomitic, with variable fabric (from mosaic slightly stressed to mortar, often lineated), typical of a non-equilibrium low grade probable polymetamorphism, with grains mostly showing sutured boundaries, a fine grain size (MGS varies from 0.94 to 2.16 mm), and with an isotopic signature of δ18Opdb = from -7.87 to -11.26; δ13Cpdb = from 0.45 to 4.75. These data were compared with the other most common fine-grained marbles used in antiquity, demonstrating their discriminating power.



THE QUARRIES OF SILSILA – MAIN SOURCE OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN SANDSTONE ARCHITECTURE

R. KLEMM AND D. KLEMM

Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich Mailing address: Buzallee 32, D-86911 Diessen, Germany; [email protected], [email protected]

The sandstone quarries in Silsila (Upper Egypt) are upon the largest, mined in ancient Egypt from Middle Kingdom until modern times. The main working periods however, concentrated on New Kingdom, Ptolemaic and Roman times.

The quarries occur on both banks of a sandstone gorge formed by the river Nile. Both banks were archeologically mapped by the authors. It turned out that varies quarry districts could be attributed to certain periods and in many cases even to individual pharaohs. Beginning for example on the eastern bank, the quarry operations start in the north with Middle Kingdom sites followed toward the south by New Kingdom, Ptolemaic, Roman and finally modern sites.

Most of the quarries were organized as open air operations but generally those of the Middle Kingdom were worked in well established underground galleries and one of these at the western bank was later transformed by the pharaoh Horemheb into a New Kingdom rock temple.

Petrographically the sandstone qualities from eastern and western banks could be distinguished in a siliceous and partly carbonate cemented sandstone respectively. Particularly the Silsila occurrences differ from other Egyptian sandstone quarry sites such as El Kab (Mahamid) and the Aswan area.

A coarse dating of the various quarry sites in Silsila by means of the chisel marks at the quarry walls will be demonstrated, generally also fitting to other quarry sites of sandstone and limestone in all Egypt.

For several important ancient Egypt monuments an attribution to the Silsila quarries could be verified.



INTERPRETING THE UNFINISHED OBELISK QUARRY, ASWAN, EGYPT: A NEW APPROACH TO QUARRYING TECHNIQUES

T. HELDAL

Geological Survey of Norway, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway; [email protected]

The unfinished obelisk in Aswan, dating from the New Kingdom, has astonished thousands of visitors, admiring the pure size of it and the perfection of the quarrying itself. How could such massive vertical channels be made in hard granite before the Iron tools were available? The most promoted theory of the quarrying process is that of pure hammering with dolerite pounders, which are found in large quantities in the quarry. Some dispute has been about the function and initial shape of these pounders. However, an excavation by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, lead by Adel Kelany, provided solid evidence that fire was used in the quarrying process, and even aided by the use of mud bricks to concentrate the heat. Also, others have suggested fire as an important method in quarrying from early on. But most of the ideas about fire setting circle around its use for removing overburden and splitting of blocks. In the present paper, the evidence for one or the other will be discussed. The quarry marks, when viewed collectively throughout the site, does not support the idea of downward trenching in ‘vertical’ domains housing individual quarrymen. In contrary, they support a lateral movement of extraction, with starting points in the so-called prospecting holes. Furthermore, the marks display an intimate, simultaneous process of both hammering with pounders and splitting. The paper will present arguments on how the marks can be explained by heating with fire. Moreover, it will present fresh data on magnetic susceptibility indicating that heating of the granite did take place during quarrying, confirmed with laboratory experiments. Finally, it will present a holistic model on how quarrying in the new Kingdom granite quarries could have been done with heating as the primary agent, illustrated with 3D re-constructions.



CAVAE ROMANAE, SOME EXAMPLES OF SCULPTURAL FORMATION

K. DŽIN

Archaeological Museum of Istria, Carrarina 3, Croatia – 52100 Pula;[email protected]

Limestone from the Roman-era Cavae romanae quarry near Pula, with its specific solidity but also pliability for artistic sculptural formation, has been used since Roman times as a source of not only construction materials (used, for example, to build the amphitheatre in Pula) but also as an art supply. The unfinished Roman portrait of the velata from Vinkuran and the matrona from nearby Vintjan, testify to its use for artistic creativity in the Roman era. The geological properties of the stone can be credited for its use for these purposes.

The massive structure of rudist limestone in its deposits, without notable stratification and the existence of bed surfaces as montane discontinuities, without veins, made it possible both during Antiquity and in the present day, to extract blocks of the desired sizes and shapes from which, regardless of the dimensions, architectural and decorative elements can be carved and sculptures formed.

It should be noted that the ancient quarries in the Pula vicinity have been continually used for two thousand years, which is reflected in the numerous examples of stone sculpture throughout Istria, Croatia, and Northern Italy, especially Venice.



GREY LIMESTONE QUARRIES OF BYLLIS, ALBANIA

T. KOZELJ AND M. WURCH-KOZELJ

École Française d’Athènes, GR - 64 004 – Thasos, Greece; [email protected], [email protected]

The grey limestone quarries of Byllis are mainly located in the South and the South-East cliffs, but some others lay in the Easterly slopes, and also some small-scale extraction areas are evident inside the Justinian city-walls.

An examination of the open-air working faces and the excavations of a few parts of these quarries provide evidence of many remains: extraction traces: channels, cavities for wedges, holes for chisels, negatives of extracted blocks… , which belong to the different techniques used;installations : specific cavities, confirming the use of hosting machines; a basin carved in the rock, which was used as a « gourna » to repair the tools; various sizes of cuttings/ off-cuts : mostly of them thrown down the cliff, but some were used to backfill the channels so as to provide a new work-area for an other progress of extraction; material composed of ceramic, metal and stone fragments: stone to whet the tools ; a stone wedge, which was really used for extracting blocks; a bronze weight of a plumb line, which was needed for measuring the slope of the layers to extract; and two engraved letters distinguishable between the two cavities for the feet of a hosting machine; from which the preliminary report may be presented here, bringing out the organisation of these quarries according to the process of Byllis, and their particularities, as for example, a mining activity intra muros at the early byzantine time.



THE QUARRIESS AT LUNI IN THE 1ST CENTURY AD: FINAL CONSIDERATIONS ON SOME ASPECTS OF PRODUCTION, DIFFUSION AND

COSTS

P. PENSABENE

Patrizio Pensabene, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Città Universitaria - P. le A. Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italia; [email protected]

Until a few decenniums ago, the historic considerations on the Luni caves would be limited to a famous but very brief passage in Suetonius (Suet., Tib. 49, 2), recounting Tiberius’ initiative to issue a bill of law removing the right cities had to exploit the mines and caves scattered around the empire and attributing it directly to the emperor. In first place were mentioned the Luni caves on which was confirmed the imperial property starting from Tiberius himself. Not only but was also confirmed the control on them performed in the statio marmorum in Rome where one section was dedicated to checking the blocks of Luni marble. A fact that would be proved by the presence in the Flavian age, of two imperial freedmen in the capacity of accountants specifically in charge of the Luni marble cargoes (tabularii marmorum lunensium).

Even if a few scholars lessen the extent of Tiberius’ decision and other scholar limited it mainly to the Luni caves and even in the light of the fact that in that period some important caves must have already been under the emperor’s jurisdiction either by way of conquest or by a change of their status from personal property to state property, the process of nationalization must have notably advanced right on the basis on Tiberius’ decree. We do not know, though, how long it lasted and whether it included all caves or only the main ones as some evidence of the existence of mines in private hands would indicate.

The extremely large use of this type of marble in contemporary monuments in Rome had been made possible only by an inflexible organisation of both the mining activity to satisfy the needs of the Urbs and the relative transport. It is therefore well documented the strong interest the state had in it since the augustan age whatever was the section of the distrcit directly controlled by the imperial houses or by the city of Luni, an interest that grew largely in the julian – claudian and flavian ages because of the extensive use of marble in monumental building activity inspired to the official Roman architecture which the local elites made their own in the Gallic and Hispanic provinces besides in Italy herself, where as it is know, the monuments of the imperial cult had an important role.

At that time then, it was not possible to farther delay the need to distinguish between the Luni marbles – and not only – destined for the monumental buildings in Rome clearly promoted by the emperor (private patronage built the last temples at the beginning of the augustan age and then disappeared) and for which the imperial administration would bear only the costs for mining, transport and installation, and the marbles destined instead for the Italian or provincial cities whose costs would have been directly born by the local elites or city governments with the exceptions of very few imperial donations mostly limited to the augustan age and of cities founded directly by the emperors.



THE ALMADÉN DE LA PLATA QUARRIES: NEW DATA FROM THE LATEST INTERVENTIONS

J. BELTRÁN1, O. RODRÍGUEZ1, P. LÓPEZ2 AND E. ONTIVEROS3

1 Dpt. prehistoria y Arqueología, Fac. geografía e Historia, Universidad de Sevilla. C/ María de Padilla, s/n. 41002, Sevilla, Spain; [email protected], [email protected]

2Archeolog. Sevilla, Spain; [email protected] 3Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico. Sevilla, Spain; [email protected]

This contribution, within the framework of the research project of the I+D+I Program of the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia conducted by the University of Seville, tries to collect the results obtained from different kind of analysis –archaeological and petrological basically- of the facts provided by the recently archaeological excavations taken over at the quarries of Almadén de la Plata (Seville). The field survey has been mainly developed at the (quarry) front of Los Covachos and its surrounding area. There, the visible traces of exploitation works have allowed to consider it traditionally as a point of stone extraction in Roman times. Almadén has indeed been recognized as a pagus marmorarius through the epigraphical evidences and even –although the lecture controversy- as the mons marmorum of the Itinerary of Antoninus. The recent archaeological works developed confirm now the dynamic exploitation of the area and to emphasize the important activity of this quarry district, as well as to offer some valuable information about the techniques and exploitation criteria of the stone of Almadén, according to the possibilities of its geological features. Based on those arguments and the wide dispersion of its products, different scholars tent to recognize these quarries as an imperial property. The analysis of the in situ located remains is completed by a deep study of the products made on these materials, in order to draw a dispersion map, which helps us to characterize the local –and wider- trade of the marbles of Baetica.



THE RED TRAVERTINE OF MULA, MURCIA, SPAIN. MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF QUARRIES IN THE ROMAN ERA

J.M. NOGUERA CELDRÁN1, B. SOLER HUERTAS2, J.A. ANTOLINOS MARÍN3 Y R. ARANA

CASTILLO4

1 Área de Arqueología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain; [email protected] 2 Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Roma, Italy; [email protected]

3 Museo Minero de La Unión, Murcia, Spain; [email protected] 4 Departamento de Química Agrícola, Geología y Edafología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain;

[email protected]

The red travertine is one of the main coloured marble varieties used in the conventus carthaginiensis. The mineralogical characteristics of the rock and its distinct colour made it one of the most widely used in the city’s monuments in the time of Augustus to the extent of becoming the local marmor. One of the most relevant aspects of its study is that related to its extraction techniques and the operation of its quarry, especially after a wide array of stonemason’s marks were found on some of the shafts of columns from the theatre. The marks have been identified as numerals: LXD·IIII, LXD·IIII, L·IIII, B·I·L·VI, B·III·L·VI, B·III·L·VI, K·IIII, D·IIII, and IIII. Although some authors have associated these numerals with the location of the shafts inside the building, they are more likely connected with the administration of the quarry and particularly with numbers accounting for the blocks extracted from the various faces using a system that seems to be common to all the Romanized Mediterranean world.



ROMAN QUARRIES IN THE NORTHEAST OF HISPANIA, MODERN CATALONIA, SPAIN

A.GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.

Àrea d’Arqueologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici B - 08193 Campus de Bellaterra, Spain;

Unitat d’Estudis Arqueomètrics, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]

This paper presents the results of a PhD research funded by the Catalan Government (2001 FI 00215) initiated at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and later on developed also with the support of the Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC). As part of a broader research project on artistic, epigraphic and other Roman remains made of stone, this PhD study focused on the material itself and, above all, its origin, that is, the quarries. The foremost purpose was a global approach to the stone industries, both from the extraction point (quarries) and from the final use (stone objects, buildings, etc.), to get an overall picture of the whole process and its organization. In this sense, local stone proved an appropriate study case since both their quarries and the resulting objects/buildings are usually located nearby.

A comprehensive bibliographic survey was undertaken as previous step to delimiting the study areas (the territories around Tarraco, Dertosa, Barcino, Aeso, Emporiae, Gerunda and other scattered areas) and to the field survey, which enabled to record as much data as possible from the sites.

As a result a comprehensive collection of data has been compiled: evidences directly related to the work at the quarry site (location, tool marks, volume of stone extracted, contextualization on the ancient landscape, etc.), detailed characterization of the stone exploited (petrographic description), and examples of monuments/objects/buildings where it was used (sculpture, epigraphy, architecture, infrastructures, etc.). The analysis of all this data led to:

• Reconsider the chronology of most of the quarries and to propose new dates on the basis of more reliable data.

• Show that quarrying was strongly determined by the development of the urban phenomenon that was part of the Romanization process of this territory.

• Establish a general chronology for stone extraction, which is also closely related to the development of Roman towns in this territory.

• Confirm that there is a change on the extraction pattern and strategies after the arrival of the Romans, who introduced a higher planning and gradual standardization of stone extraction.

• Stress the significant differences among types of stone, which are also reflected on the quarry sites and hence the importance of the combined recording of both archaeological and geological features for its correct understanding.


Abstracts oral presentations – Friday 12th 81

FRIDAY 12TH

THE MARBLE TECHNIQUE, POLYCHROMY, AND SCULPTURAL STYLE OF THE 'KARG-BEBENBURG YOUTH'

M. B. ABBE1, G. E. BORROMEO2 AND S. PIKE3

1Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1 East 78th Street, New York, NY 10075, USA; [email protected]

2Curator of Ancient Art, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 224 Benefit Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA; [email protected]

3Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Willamette University, 900 State Street, Salem, OR 97301, USA; [email protected]

The 'Karg-Bebenburg Youth' (acc.no. 23.342) in the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design is an important and rare example of a high-quality Greek marble statue from the early Hellenistic period with preserved ancient polychromy. Reportedly found at Knidos in the nineteenth century and named after its first owner, Freiherr Theodor von Karg-Bebenburg, Munich, the statue represents a standing naked male youth in an outwardly-directed, contrapposto posture. Devoid of specific attributes, the preserved figure's identity and interpretation have been disputed since the sculpture's first publication in 1912.

This paper presents the results of new technical and archival research that clarify our understanding of the ancient and modern origins of this exceptionally well-preserved, if little-known, Greek statue. Marble analysis, currently underway, aims to accurately characterize the probable origin of its fine-grained, allegedly 'Parian' marble. Technical features of the marble carving, joining, and finishing reflect the Greek marble craft traditions of the late fourth and third centuries BC., especially those well-attested in the Aegean and Asia Minor. Examinations and material analysis of the ancient polychromy have identified red ochre on the hair and yellow ochre on the flesh areas of the statue; both pigments are applied directly to the stone. These are not pigmented grounds for gilding (as previously claimed), but vestiges of the statue's ancient painting. The surviving yellow ochre provides a rare example of preserved pigmentation on the flesh areas of a Greek marble statue. Close comparanda indicate a funerary or votive function is likely for the statue, and the little-noted provenance merits consideration in light of the history of archaeological exploration at Knidos in the nineteenth century.

Marble analysis was undertaken using the stable isotope ratios for carbon and oxygen from the carbonate fraction of the sample. The data was compared to the Mediterranean Marble Stable Isotope Database with least-squares statistical analysis used to guide the quarry identification. The ancient polychromy was examined through optical microscopy and UV-fluorescence imaging and analyzed by X-ray fluorescence, polarized light microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy.



PIGMENT VS. THE TEXTURE AND COLOUR OF STONE. TO WHAT EXTENT WAS STONE PART OF THE POLYCHROME APPEARANCE OF HELLENISTIC

SCULPTURE?

C. BLUME

University of Bochum – University of Heidelberg, Germany; [email protected], [email protected]

Research on the polychromy of ancient sculpture is in full swing. We are increasingly discovering more about how sculptures originally looked in ancient times, when they had received their finishing, polychrome coat. But what actually is the polychrome coat? Is it simply the complete covering of an object with pigments and colour substances or is there more variety in the possibilities of coating an object?

In her research, the author focuses on the polychromy of Hellenistic sculpture. Her examination of many Hellenistic sculptures and terracotta figurines in European and American collections and museums (enriched by microscopic examination, UV and IR light, raking light and some colour analyses) led to the observation that, in Hellenistic times, polychromy is more than just the painting of an object. In fact, it is firstly the characterisation of the texture of the material from which the object is sculpted (for instance by giving a rough or a smooth ground for what is depicted). Secondly, it is the choice of adding details and applications in other materials than that of the object itself (such as a bridle in metal). And thirdly, it is the option between at least three types of polychromy, including the decision of the degree to which the stone of the sculpture is to be coated or how far its colour is to be included in the polychrome appearance of the surface: A north Egyptian head in Hamburg, for example, shows a negroid boy; though the work material is black basalt, the shade of the stone was not used to display the complexion but was covered with brown colour. An alabaster statuette of Aphrodite in London, in contrast, seems to have colour added to all elements but the skin; the complexion here appears to have been displayed by the alabaster-white itself.

The paper intends to show the diversity of Hellenistic polychromy, on the basis of a number of examples, and the playing of the sculptor and painter with materials and colours.



ANCIENT POLYCHROME AND GILDED SCULPTURE: NEW EVIDENCES, NEW INTERPRETATIONS, NEW MEANINGS

PH. JOCKEY

Maison Méditerranéenne des Sciences de l’Homme, Centre Camille Jullian, 5, rue du Château de l’Horloge, BP 647, F - 13094 Aix-en-Provence Cedex 2, France;

[email protected]

The recent booming out of studies and publications dealing with ancient (both Greek and Roman) polychrome and gilded marble sculptures is challenging our usual way of looking at them, not only from the technical point of view but also from the artistic, political and ideological one.

Actually, such a new evidence of its success in Antiquity does make possible for us to try to understand and interpret such a long tradition, from the archaic to the Roman period.

This paper explores both the political and ideological uses of polychrome sculpture, by underlining the importance of three major phases related to the carrying out of the project itself: first, at the very beginning of it, by taking into account, when coloring and gilding specific areas on sculpture, the others artistic expressions of the same theme (especially 2D artefacts, like wall paintings, mosaics or even reliefs); then by selecting pigments and colorants of high or low value according to their future location and their symbolic qualities; last by exhibiting polychrome and gilded marble sculpture in specific places and ways taking into account both the lightness and the settings and surroundings connected with colors and gold.

By identifying and stressing these three basic steps of the process of coloring and gilding sculpture, we would like to suggest that in any case they did have a strong connection to ideological and political purposes.



USE AND SYMBOLISM OF PENTELIC MARBLE IN DOMITIAN’S ROME

I.BALD ROMANO1, S. PIKE2, E. GAZDA3 AND R. PARIS4

1American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 6-8 Charlton Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 USA; [email protected]

2Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences, Willamette University, 900 State Street, Salem, OR 97301 USA; [email protected]

3Department of the History of Art and Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, 434 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA; [email protected]

4Museo Nazionale Romano al Palazzo Massimo, Largo di Villa Peretti 1, Roma, Italy; [email protected]

During his rule, Domitian (AD 81-96) seized the opportunity to rebuild the imperial city that had been badly destroyed by the great fire of AD 64 and subsequent conflagrations. Marbles were brought from all ends of the empire for this building program. Although the accessible Cararra quarries were exploited from the second half of the 1st c. BC and were heavily used for the building program that Augustus claimed turned Rome from a city of brick to one of marble, it was the white marble from the Pentelicon quarries near Athens that was conspicuously used for many of the major imperial monuments of Domitian’s Rome. These include the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Domitian, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline, and the monument of which the Hartwig-Kelsey Fragments are a part -- very likely, the Templum Gentis Flaviae, the sanctuary built by Domitian as the final resting place for the Flavian dynastic rulers.

Why would Domitian have gone to the expense of importing Pentelic marble when a high-quality local marble was readily available? There were both symbolic and practical reasons for this choice. On the practical side, we know that a quarry system (ratio marmorum) was already in place before the Domitianic period, with imperial administrative control over most major quarries. Yet, due to an absence of specific evidence for the Pentelic quarries, there is still uncertainty over their private ownership versus imperial administration. It has been theorized (Freyberger 1990), however, that specialized workshops were organized in Rome under Domitian’s imperial administration with carvers brought from various parts of the empire for production of specific architectural elements and in certain marbles. Attic stonemasons would have worked predominantly in Pentelic marble. The centuries-long tradition of marble working, the expertise of Attic quarrymen and carvers, and an abundance of high-quality, medium-grained white marble that could be quarried out in large blocks suitable for architectural elements and large scale relief and freestanding sculpture made Pentelic marble (and Attic stoneworkers) a logical choice.

Symbolically, the conspicuous use of the extravagant, imported Pentelic marble for Domitian’s Rome was a propagandistic display of the power of the emperor. It can also be viewed as an expression of Domitian’s Philhellenism and an overt demonstration of the connection between the new Rome and the Athens of its past glory -- the Pentelic marble city of Domitian’s patron goddess Athena/Minerva.



SOLAR SYMBOLISM AND SILICIFIED SANDSTONE CONSUMPTION IN DYNASTIC EGYPT: PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF ITS SYMBOLIC

VALUE

E. BLOXAM

Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY, United Kingdom; [email protected]

Silicified sandstone (often termed ‘quartzite’) was a major hard stone used for the creation of obelisks, colossal statues and other ornamental objects in dynastic Egypt. Termed the ‘most solar of stones’ explosions in its consumption by royalty are usually connected with periods of prominence of the solar cults, particularly during the Old Kingdom and New Kingdom (3rd – 2nd millennium BC). Hence, presenting us with evidence of the important symbolic role that silicified sandstone played in Egyptian religious ideology. Yet, was the idea of its ‘solar symbolism’ just a creation of royalty in dynastic Egypt linked largely to its glittering properties and colour? Or, is there a deeper history to this association?

In many instances, questions relating to stone symbolism in Egyptology look largely towards the written records and consumption for answers to such questions, often overlooking what information might be gathered from also examining the stones’ source. The objective of this paper is to look at such questions more from the perspective of the stone’s source, in the light of recent research undertaken at one of the major sources of silicified sandstone in Egypt located on the West Bank at Aswan. The material culture associated with quarrying of silicified sandstone over several millennia across the Aswan West Bank will be summarised, paying particular attention to the types of products produced and their consumption. Outcomes from this research will form the basis for discussion, in particular, what the deep history of the stone’s exploitation since the Palaeolithic might tell us about the origins of its symbolic value. From cross-cultural analysis, particularly with Australian aboriginal contexts, it will look at how we might link symbolic values of silicified sandstone not only with the properties of the stone itself, but with other factors, such as its source and the role that quarrying played in mediating social relationships over time. The paper concludes by suggesting that the ‘solar symbolism’ attached to silicified sandstone in Egypt may have evolved from the more humble origins of its production and use in Prehistory. In essence, that ancestry and connections to specific places, or stone sources, are often the forgotten aspects to understanding symbolic associations to particular stones and how these transform over time.



PHRYGIAN FOR PHRYGIANS: SEMIOTICS OF ‘EXOTIC’ LOCAL MARBLE

B. BURRELL1 AND H. PARKER2

1Department of Classics, Brock University. 500 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1 CANADA; [email protected]

2 Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati, 410 Blegen Library, Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0226 USA; [email protected]

Scholars have long taken the import and display of exotic marbles in Rome to symbolize Rome's dominance over her ‘ethnically variegated’ empire. But few have investigated what the use of colored marble meant to those in the provinces where it was quarried. Did their view echo the Roman one, or did they see something different in their stones? What did ‘exotic’ marble mean to the exotics themselves? This paper examines a particular case, the semiotics of Phrygian (pavonazzetto) marble in its homeland, the province of Asia, during the Roman empire. Modern theories of reception and of color perception assist in interpreting both the archaeological data from sites in Asia Minor and a wide range of literary evidence, including contemporary orations, geographies, biographies, and inscriptions. The name ‘Phrygian’ seems to have determined the stone's associations in some contexts, where images of myths and epics set in the area were sculpted in that stone; but local inscriptions specify Dokimaian, Synnadan, or ‘Kymbelleitan,’ and here sheer color proves to be more determinative. Direct Roman influence is occasionally traceable, as in Ephesos' Phrygian marble versions of Dacians from the Forum of Trajan. It is noteworthy, however, that, in contrast with the situation in Rome, Phrygian marble columnar displays are only rarely used in temples or sacred locations. Instead, they and other colored marble columns appear in baths, gymnasia, and libraries - centers of culture and civic display. It is possible that the very terminology used to describe variegated marble - generally ‘poikilos’ in Greek - affected its reception, as the former was a positive term associated with erudite variation in oratory, and so with the high Hellenization of the Second Sophistic. In Latin, variegated marble could be described either as ‘maculosum’ (negative) or ‘pictum’ (positive), but neither of these had the cultural associations that the Greek term possessed. Thus the same stone used in Rome to evoke the captive ‘other’ could be used to express civic pride and intellectual excellence in its local context.



THE FUNERARY POEM OF ORIGENES FROM EGYPT: MATERIAL ISSUES AND SYMBOLISM

P. A. BUTZ

Savannah College of Art and Design, Department of Art History. P.O. Box 3146 Savannah, GA 31402-2072 USA; [email protected]

This paper examines the inscribed funerary poem of Origenes in Greek from Egypt in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The date may be the first century C.E. The 38-line acrostic inscription is arranged in two columns cut on a richly mottled stone plaque that answers most closely to a form of brecchia. Areas of white and grey, rounded and angular in shape, sometimes streaked and diffused, occur widely throughout the reddish-purple matrix. A red and white variety of brecchia is known from the Theban area and other sites along the west bank, and most likely this is the actual stone in question. However, the paper takes the position that the stone was deliberately chosen for its rich appearance and simulation to some other material. One possibility is surely a colored marble requiring importation; even in the earlier epigraphical literature, the identification was made for a marble tablet. Porphyry is a second and very logical possibility, evoking an Egyptian source both topographically and aesthetically. Finally the author considers a third possibility related to the papyrological tradition and very relevant to the contents of the inscription proper. The theme of substitution for the purpose of achieving symbolic meaning as it pertains to this particular memorial is addressed in the conclusion.



ICONOGRAPHY OF HELLENISTIC STONEWORK

F. A. COOPER

University of Minnesota 2190 Folwell Avenue, St Paul, Mn 55108 USA; lightly [email protected]

Hellenistic fashions in stonework were often employed to specifically evoke a symbolic imagery. Using a selection of architectural examples, two different modes are presented here. First, two Arkadian temples, early Hellenistic in date, have canonical ashlar walls on the exterior but dry, field stone construction for the interior. This rustication adopts the primeval and timeless terrace wall, typical of this mountainous region of Greece. This fashion is straight forward whereas the second is more complex.

The second mode of architectural iconography adopted in the early Hellenistic is an archaistic style. This was used not only for masonry type and tool-work finish, but also archaistic elements of temple plan and elevation. Archaism has long been recognized as a stylistic feature of the Hellenistic age, aptly summarized by J.J. Pollitt, Art in the Hellenistic Age, 1986, pp. 175-184. Scholarship to date, however, has concentrated on representations on coins, vases, and sculpture to the complete exclusion of architecture. I propose that archaistic stone architecture is equally prevalent and forms a major stylistic and iconographic phenomenon of the Hellenistic period. For example, a consciously created revival of late archaic lesbian and polygonal masonry reappears in the early fourth century BC.E and continues through the Hellenistic period as an evocation of venerable architecture of past times. Surface treatment of stone by the Hellenistic period was sophisticated and richly varied continuing earlier techniques: hammer, pointed and tooth-chisel work of the late archaic period and adding quarry, herringbone, furrowed work and pulvination face, among other styles. In examples of archaistic temple design archaic tool work returns and is accompanied by the faux- boss. More than just ‘retro’ or old-fashioned, this archaistic style was a clever device to instill civic pride in the typical Federal League state by lending an aura of deep antiquity and long heritage. In fact, Temple C at Thermon, the textbook example of the earliest phase of Greek architectural design, is demonstrably archaistic (C. Verfenstein, Architecture of the Greek Federal Leagues, Ph.D. dis., Univ. Minnesota, 2002, 90-109). Other less well-known examples include the temple at Kallion (P. Themilis, ASAtene 61, 1983, 237-244). The krepidoma of the Thermon temple presents an archaistic quarry face with the faux boss. Thermon’s and Kallion’s stylobate blocks have a lightly raised cylindrical plinth for wooden columns. The top surface of these plinths slope downwards towards the inside but with slightly different inclinations, an ingenious archaistic design meant to give the colonnade a slightly-staggered back and forth pitch, an emulation of the look of earthquake displacement seen by the League audiences as emblematic of older, venerable generations of temples.



IMPORTED MARBLE AND LOCAL STONE IN ROMAN AND BYZANTINE PALESTINE: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND ISOTOPIC ASPECTS OF CENTRE AND

PERIPHERY

M. FISCHER

Tel Aviv University, Department of Archaeology, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel; [email protected]

Roman Palestine became an active consumer of imported marble for both architectural and artistic purposes overlapping the almost exclusive use of local stones in previous Hellenistic and Herodian building programs. As such Palestine was adapted to the general trend of the Roman Empire, becoming a peripheral market of the large centres of marble quarrying and producing, mainly those from Asia Minor. In fact, Roman Palestine marble market was restricted only to a few main cities, such as Caesarea Maritima, Ascalon and Scythopolis (Beth Shean) from where marble items were transported to other sites as well. In addition to this, however, Roman Palestine has developed a local response to imported architecture and art based on local stones of different kinds. Many of the urban centres of Roman Palestine were using only a small amount of imported marble and mainly imitating the latter by using local material. Recently investigated areas and sites have revealed an interesting picture of this melting aspect, such as Scythopolis (Beth Shean), Eleutheropolis (Beth Guvrin), Apollonia-Arsuf, Samaria-Sebaste and others. It seems that for certain buildings the builders and artisans preferred to use (expensive) imported marble while for others both marble and/or local stones. As to the latter, a distinction among the different kinds of stones and their use in buildings could be observed, such as black basalt for substructures and several functional components and various kinds of white limestone for upper structures and architectural decoration. This paper focuses on two main aspects regarding this situation: the first one concerns the character of the use of marble versus local stone emphasizing the targets of the builders and artisans of ancient Palestine, while the second aspects regards the origin of both marble and local stones against the economic and social background of the sites. A special concern is given to the relationship between main centres and sites in Palestine on the one hand, and Palestinian centres and peripheries on the other hand. An epilogue will handle shortly with the impact this development had on Byzantine Palestine. The research on which this paper has been based included isotopic, petrographic and archaeological investigations of local stone quarries in Israel; all of them will be given a special attention in the paper itself.



THE COLOURS OF DEATH. SYMBOLISM OF ROMAN CINERARY URNS IN COLOURED STONE

S. PERNA

Department of Classics, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham - Surrey TW20 0EX England; [email protected]

During the 1st century BC, containers of various shapes, material and forms were used by the Romans to preserve the cremated remains of the dead. As coloured marbles began to be imported to Rome from the 1st century BC, urns appear in Egyptian alabaster (travertine), porphyry and, sometimes, granite, which continue in use into the second century A.D. Relatively rarer than the other ash receptacles they pose questions regarding their selection and use. More than sixty different varieties of coloured stone were employed by the Romans in a myriad of applications in sculpture and architecture. Yet this variety is not reflected in the choice of the stone for cinerary urns, which on the present corpus of 100 examples, is limited to three specific types, all from Egypt: golden yellow brown alabaster (travertine), red porphyry and red granite. Such a restricted selection may have not only been determined by aesthetic appeal, but by more profound and diverse factors, amongst which ideological considerations connected with the use of imported Egyptian stone and the symbolic qualities of its colour. This paper attempts to investigate the possible implications of the use of such stones as cinerary urns in Roman funerary contexts.

Recorded find-spots are columbaria and funerary monuments belonging to wealthy individuals, including liberti, and, in some circumstances, the Imperial family. In the realm of death the concern of certain Roman social groups for visibility and memory is evident, and the use of urns in exotic coloured stone may be seen as an important means of affirming social differentiation and prestige. My objective is thus to offer some possible interpretations of stone symbolism connected to death, to ask in what ways these urns could be perceived as objects of self-promotion and as status markers, considering the importance given to imported stone, particularly Egyptian, in Roman society. To what extent could artefacts made from these ‘exotic’ lithic materials become a metaphor. In particular, colour, especially when associated with rocks which are imbued with their own symbolism, operates as symbol. In this light we should read the use of coloured stone urns in Roman funerary contexts.


Abstracts posters session I 91

THE MARBLE REPERTOIRE OF THE ROMAN VILLA OF CORNELIUS, VALENCIA, SPAIN

R. ALBIACH1, E. GARCÍA-PRÓSPER2 AND A. GALLEGO2

1Servei d’Investigació Prehistòrica, Museu de Prehistòria de València; [email protected] 2Archaeologist; [email protected], [email protected]

The people of the villa Cornelius Iunianus were dedicated to the work and labour of linen and its production was done 10 kilometres further away by workshops in the city Saetabis, and commercialized through the nearby Via Augusta.

The success of the linen out of Saetabis is mentioned by ancient sources due to its superior quality, which most probably gave to the owner an enrichment, which enabled him to introduce many magnificent improvements to the villa at the end of the 2nd century BC.

During the archaeological works in the year 2004, lots of fragments and pieces of ornamental marble were found throughout the fundus, and also plenty in the pars Urbana. They were located in situ inside of several rooms as well as in different levels of the plunged house, sealed and covered by tegulae and also found reused in later constructions in the pars rustica and fructuaria.

They were part of the architectural elements and of the house its decorative programme that could be seen by the bedroom opus sectile flooring, in a thermal bath and on columns of the arcaded patio and as decoration in forms such as lintels, friezes, mouldings, cornices and covering crustae with images of plants of various cubicula.

Also were found sculptress elements like the divinity of Hercules found into a little temple and anthropomorphic of horse bitten in the back by a catlike animal. Among the bases with inscriptions there were those with a votive purpose and one asking the god Iovi for the owner’s health, the others were grave steles for slaves or free men, coming from the attached graveyard.

The rocky material needed for this huge reform was mainly the marble of Buixcarró, brought out of the marble quarries nearby the village Barxeta at 22 kilometres, using the rosy and yellow colours, apart from the marble stones which were imported from Italy or Greece.

So that, the villa Cornelius shows you a new Valencia’s example where was used marmor, plenty Saetabitanum, in a villa rustica, as luxury bases of its domestic decorative programmes because the studies was made, usually, in the cities of Valentia and Saetabis.



STUDY OF THE MATERIALS FROM THE ‘AULA’ AND BAPTISTERY OF THE BARCELONA EPISCOPAL GROUP

A. ÀLVAREZ1 AND J. BELTRÁN2

1Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallés) Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

2Conservadora en Cap, Museu d’Història de Barcelona (MUHBA), Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

At 5th century BC, Barcelona Episcopal Group went through a lot of changes. They started with the buildings constructions that were inside the primitive Christian core. In that moment, we can say that the ‘aula’ and the baptistery were built, and both of them were in the north east sector, inside the city. The ‘aula Episcopal’ is a rectangular floor building with a 3 nave distribution. The ‘baptistery’ is next to the principal basilica and related to the ‘aula’. In the middle of the building there is the baptismal pool, with octagonal section.

At 6th century BC there was a reform for all the buildings inside the group. The ‘aula’, space reserved for the bishop, was now redecorated with many pieces of marble. In the same way, the baptistery was rebuilt and the decoration affect to the walls, baptismal pool and interior floor, with an only opus sectile.

The great majority of the ornamental materials used in the rebuild came from other roman buildings. As calcareous material, we can found many Santa Tecla stone and it is used a micritic limestone, from Garraf massif, too. In the case of the marbles, many of them are Carrara marble Afyon, Màrmara and Tasos marbles confirm the use of the other roman building’s stones for the rebuilt works. On the whole, we can confirm the presence of many popular varieties used in this period



THE LOCAL MATERIALS USED IN THE ROMAN BREAK OF MARTORELL, BARCELONA, SPAIN

A. ÀLVAREZ 1 AND A. PITARCH 2


2Laboratory of X-ray Analytical Applications. Institute of Earth Sciences ‘Jaume Almera’ CSIC, Sole Sabaris s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

The bridge, known as ‘Pont del diable’ is located at the entrance of the Martorell’s canyon, on the Llobregat river, just a bit below the site where Anoia river joins Llobregat. One of the main roman communication roads was ‘via Augusta’ between Rome and Cádiz (Southern Spain). In Catalonia this road went across the Prelitoral basin from Girona to Tarragona and along the road, Martorell was placed in an avoidable site because there the river was narrow enough to build a bridge. The Roman legions, identified in some ashlars in the Roman part of the bridge, namely legions III, VI and X, build it during 9-5 BC.

The ‘Pont del diable’ was build using red sandstones from the Buntsandstein, these rocks as well represented in the area, the blocks used for the bridge came mainly from ‘Torrent de les Deveses’. The bioclastic sandstones used in the honorific arch, came from ‘Can Raimundet’ in Sant Llorenç d’Hortons, the Roman quarry has been identified). From the area named Costa Blanca (Castellbisbal) came a bulk light-grey limestone that was used to carve some blocks and to make the lime used for the mortar. A graphic shows the location of the several mentioned places.



STUDY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TESSERAE FROM THE ROMAN MOSAIC OF ‘LES TRES GRÀCIES’, BARCELONA, SPAIN

A. ÀLVAREZ1; A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.2 3; A. DOMÈNECH3; I. MORENO4 AND T. CARRERAS4


2Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat mitjana Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallés) Barcelona, Spain..

3Unitat d’Estudis Arqueomètrics, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003 Tarragona. Spain; [email protected]; [email protected] ,

4Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC). Passeig de Santa Madrona, 34-41, 08038 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

The study is focuses on the analysis of the tesserae from the Roman mosaic depicting the three Graces (‘Les Tres Gràcies’), found at area of the former ‘convent de l’Ensenyança’ at Barcelona (Spain). It is a polychrome mosaic currently deposited at the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya in Barcelona (MAC - Barcelona).

The petrographic analysis of each type of colour tesserae (two sorts of white, three varieties of red, two varieties of black/dark grey, one brown, one pink and one orange) had been carried out in order to characterize each type of stone. The aim was not only to identify its possible source but also to provide any data that might help the restoration currently undertaken on this mosaic.

Alternatively, some of the tesserae were observed under the electronic microscope (SEM-EDAX) which demonstrated that they have dolomitic composition. Materials with similar composition are found in the Cretaceous formation of the Garraf massif, located about 30 kilometres south from Barcelona (ancient Barcino). Among the tesserae, some are made of recifal limestones whose provenance is very likely to be in the Vallés-Penedés depression. This depression was filled during the Miocenic period. Overall, the results show that all the tesserae used to produce this mosaic used stones of local origin.



STUDY AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TESSERAE FROM A ROMAN MOSAIC OF EL ROMERAL ROMAN VILLA, ALBESA, LA NOGUERA, SPAIN

A. ÀLVAREZ1; A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.2 3; A. DOMÈNECH3; I. MORENO4 AND T. CARRERAS4


2Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat mitjana Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallés) Barcelona, Spain.

3Unitat d’Estudis Arqueomètrics. Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Pl. Rovellat, s/nm 43003 Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected] ,

4Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC), Passeig de Santa Madrona, 34-41, 08038 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

This paper focuses on the analysis of the stone tesserae from the one of the mosaics discovered at the Roman villa of the El Romeral, near Albesa (Lleida, Spain). These mosaics, as well as the Roman villa, were uncovered by chance in 1961. The extension of the villa, near 3.000 m2, and the wealth of the mosaics show that it was a wealthy residential building. It dates from the 4th century AD and has a sub quadrangular floor, which was beautifully decorated with very luxurious polychrome mosaics with plant and animal decorative motifs.

After being deposited for a long time in the Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya at Barcelona (MAC- Barcelona), the mosaics underwent a large restoration and are currently on display in Museu de Lleida Diocesà i Comarcal.

The aim of their study was twofold: firstly, to characterize and identify the type of stone used to elaborate the tesserae employed in the mosaic, and to obtain as much data as possible about them in order to facilitate the restoration that the mosaic underwent before its transport to its new location.

The results of the petrographic analysis show that all the tesseare were elaborated with local stones. Among them, bioclastic limestone and limestone with alveolines were identified; they are both materials of Ilerdian Age that came from the Cadí- Àger’s geological formations. On the other hand, a biosparitic limestone was also identified, whose origin is most likely in Lower Cretaceous (Albian-Aptian) geological strata. Finally, the rest of the tesserae were cretaceous materials whose provenance could not be pinpointed, but most likely of local origin.



THE MARMOR USE IN THE IMPERIAL CULTUAL CENTRE OF TARRACO (HISPANIA CITERIOR PROVINCE)

A .ÀLVAREZ1, J. M. MACIAS1, J. J. MENCHON2, A. MUÑOZ3, A. PITARCH4 AND I. TEIXELL2

1Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica ([email protected]),Plaza del Rovellat s/n 43003 Tarragona,

Spain; [email protected] 2Ajuntament de Tarragona; [email protected], Museu d’Història de Tarragona. C/ dels

Cavallers 14. Tarragona 43003; [email protected] 3Museu Bíblic Tarraconense (amuñ[email protected]), C/ de les Coques 1-C. Tarragona

43003; [email protected] 4Laboratory of X-ray Analytical Applications, Institute of Earth Sciences ‘Jaume Almera’ CSIC, Sole

Sabaris s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

The enclosure of imperial cult of Tarraco was constructed in the s. I d.C. in the high part of the city and presiding over the seat of the Concilium Provinciae Hispaniae Citerioris. One was a site with an urban plain similar to the Forum Pacis and with an architectonic decoration to imitation of the program of the Forum Augustum in Rome, where the use of marble was basic in the architectonic and sculpture decorative program.

As a result of the excavations of the ‘Plan Director’ of the Cathedral of Tarragona an extensive set of marble has recovered that reflect the use of the imperial quarries in the decorative program and which they have been analyzed by the Archaeometric Studies Unit of the ICAC. One is a set of materials that shows the late panorama of quarries used in the decoration. The local varieties have been identified commonly employees in Tarraco plus a series of foreign marbles that reflect the appraised quarries more of their moment: Greece, Turkey, Egypt and North Africa. All it reflects the implication to us of the imperial power in the monumental architecture of the capital of the Provincia Hispania Citerior.



ROME: WHITE MARBLES IN THE FORA OF CAESAR, AUGUSTUS, AND TRAJAN

D. ATTANASIO1, M. BRILLI2, M. BRUNO3, L. UNGARO4 AND M. VITTI4

1ISM-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected] 2IGAG-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected]

3Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected] 4Sovraintendenza BB.CC. Comune di Roma, Via IV Novembre 94, 00187 Roma, Italy; museo

[email protected]

Studies on the white marbles used to carry out and to decorate large and complex building projects have become well established and are aimed at obtaining detailed historical and archaeological data on the origin and the building history of the monuments based on archaeological and archaeometric evidence. In the past general studies have attempted to draw an overall picture on the use of specific marble varieties and on the trading networks that made them available for the public architecture and decoration of imperial Rome (Lazzarini et al., 1988; Amadori et al., 1998; Bruno et al., 2002). The present work explores a somewhat different approach devoted to the in depth investigation of single monuments by analysing systematically the marbles used in some of the roman Fora. The aim is that of understanding specific aspects of the ‘marble phenomenon’ by obtaining an accurate description of the white marbles used in some of the largest and most complex building yards set up in the antiquity such as the Fora of Caesar, Augustus and Trajan in Rome.

Within the frame of a research programme funded by the National Research Council the above mentioned monuments could be sampled systematically, including not only the architectural marble elements but also several sculptural pieces that decorated the Fora. On the whole 206 samples were collected, 86 from the Forum of Caesar, 70 from the Forum of Augustus and 50 from the Forum of Trajan, and subsequently analysed archaeometrically by isotopic analysis (δ18O and δ13C), EPR spectroscopy and petrography in order to obtain quantitative data on their physico-chemical properties and provenance. Statistical analysis of the experimental results clearly indicates that the large majority of the architectural marbles – approximately 80% – originate from the Luna quarries. Proconnesian and Pentelicon marbles are occasionally present, especially in the Forum of Caesar but not only, and demonstrate that assorted marble varieties were used probably in the course of later re-building and restorations. Statuary white marbles much used in the antiquity, such as Pentelicon, Parian, and dolomitic Thasian from Cape Vathy were identified among the samples drawn from the decoration and sculptures used to embellish the Fora of Augustus and Trajan.



THE APHRODISIAS MARBLE QUARRIES AT GÖKTEPE (MUĞLA, TURKEY)

D. ATTANASIO1, M. BRUNO2 AND A.B. YAVUZ3

1ISM-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected] 2Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected]

3D.E.Ü Engineering Faculty, Geological Engineering Dept., İzmir, Turkey; [email protected]

The exceptional importance of the Göktepe marble quarries, which produced high quality fine grained white, black and two-toned marbles, has become rapidly apparent soon after their discovery, first reported at the last ASMOSIA conference (Aix-en-Provence, 2006). Owing to the presence of distinctive features, such as the presence of yellowish cross-shaped bands in the black marble variety or the very low level of manganese impurities, identification of marbles from Göktepe is often relatively easy and has allowed safe provenancing of several, important artifacts.

The complete list of sculptures presently assigned to these quarries will be presented and discussed. On this basis a number of important points seem now to be safely established:

The quarries, already active at the end of the 1st century AD, probably reached peak exploitation in the Hadrianic period and remained in use till late antiquity,

The sculptural marble blocks abandoned in the quarries with carved production numbers and cavities for inserting the imperial lead seal indicate that the quarries, were under imperial control, at least for some time, probably during the 2nd century AD,

The sculptures identified so far are all strictly connected with the school of sculpture of Aphrodisias and demontrate that the site must be considered, under every respect, an additional source of Aphrodisian marbles,

Sculptures found at Aphrodisias, Rome, Athens indicate the widespread use of the Göktepe marbles and seem to contradict the common belief that Aphrodisian sculptors abroad used mostly local marbles,

The number and quality of the black Göktepe sculptures indicate that the quarries are one of the sources of Nero Antico marble, probably the most important, and definitely disprove the tradition, dating back to Pliny, that Nero Antico might originate from Cape Tainaron in the Mani peninsula.



THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO AT CLAROS AND THE SHIPWRECK AT CRIMSON CAPE: PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF ISOTOPIC DATA

W. AYLWARD1, D. CARLSON2, D. LAROCHE3, J.-C. MORETTI4 AND S. PIKE5

1Department of Classics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, U.S.A.; [email protected] 2Institute of Nautical Archaeology, Texas A&M University, U.S.A.; [email protected]

3L’Institut de recherche sur l'architecture antique, Université de Lyon, France 4Le Centre Culturel Français, Izmir, Turkey

5Department of Environmental and Earth Sciences, Willamette University, U.S.A.

The ship wrecked at Crimson Cape (Turkish ‘Kızılburun’) was transporting a Doric capital and eight column drums with an estimated total weight of at least 50 tons. Isotopic data indicate Proconnesos Island as the source of the freshly quarried architectural parts and metrological research points to the Temple of Apollo at Claros as the intended destination. Datable artifacts from the cargo, which has been under excavation by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University since 2005, show that the vessel sank some time during the first three quarters of the 1st century BC. This date is consistent with the early stages of construction on the temple peristyle at Claros. New isotopic data from ten finished blocks belonging to different parts of the temple at Claros suggest that the Proconnesian quarries were but one of several sources of marble used in the temple. The range of marbles used for building at Claros opens new perspectives on the construction history of an important oracular temple at a Panhellenic sanctuary with a rich tradition of benefactions from across the Hellenistic and Roman world.



EXTENDED DATA BASE OF FRACTAL ANALYSIS (FA), QUANTITATIVE FABRIC ANALYSIS (QFA) AND CATHODOLUMINESCENCE (CL) PROPERTIES

OF SOUTH-EAST EUROPEAN AND ANATOLIAN WHITE MARBLES

B. BAJNÓCZI1, B. SZÉKELY2 3 AND J. ZÖLDFÖLDI4

1Institute for Geochemical Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budaörsi út 45, H-1112 Budapest, Hungary; [email protected]

2Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology, Gusshausstr. 27-29, A-1040 Wien, Austria; [email protected]

3Department of Geophysics and Space Science, Eötvös University, Budapest, Hungary 4Institute of Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasse 56, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany;

[email protected]

Among the numerous methods of white marble fingerprinting techniques quantitative textural analytical (QTA) methods combined with cathodoluminescence (CL) is found to be very cost-effective for provenance studies. Previous studies demonstrated that application of this combined technology on Anatolian white marbles can provide valuable results. In our approach we combine fractal analysis (FA) and quantitative fabric analysis (QFA). In the present study further 60 samples were included completing the previously analysed 40 Anatolian ones. New samples from Western Anatolia, Greece, Austria and Slovenia have been analysed by cathodoluminescence microscopy and MGS, MGS99%, the ratio MGS/MGS99%, MGA, MGA99%, MGA/MGA99% and fractal dimension related data were determined.

The samples from Anatolia can be grouped in two basic categories: a flatter, sometimes bimodal distribution belongs to the samples originating from the geological units south of the Izmir-Ankara Suture (Afyon, Mugla, Milas and Usak). These samples are typically homeoblastic, with relatively large grains. On the contrary, samples from the area north of this line are characterised by peaked distribution (Marmara, Orhangazi, Serhat, Altinoluk). The larger number of grains group mainly in the vicinity of 300 µm size. Parallel to that they have considerable percent of larger and smaller grains as a consequence of heteroblastic texture.

The Austrian marbles show similar groups: one group with homeoblastic texture, with relatively coarse grains (like Gummern and Schwarzviertel). Marbles with heteroblastic texture particulate larger and smaller grains (Pöls, Puppitsch and Tiffen).

White marble samples of Anatolia can be subdivided into three major groups based upon their dominant CL colour. Calcitic marbles with (1) dominant orange CL colour (Afyon, Babadag, Milas, Kemalpasa, Serhat and Usak), or (2) blue CL colour (like Marmara, Orhangazi and Ayazma) and (3) marbles with dolomite content (Altınoluk) showing dominantly red luminescence. Furthermore, cathodomicrofacies is distinct for each area. Orange luminescent marbles typically show heterogeneous CL patterns with dull or non-luminescent cores and brighter luminescent rims, however, there are also stripes and patches with more intensive CL.

The investigated white marble samples from Austria and Slovenia can be subdivided into four major groups based upon their dominant cathodomicrofacies. (1) Calcitic marble from Puppitsch and Tiffen have a dominant bright orange colour, (2) marble from Sekull, Pöls, Gummern and some samples from Treffen have dull orange luminescence, (3) marbles with dolomite content (Töschling) show cathodomicrofacies with dominant red CL colour, and (4) samples from Slovenska Bistrica and some samples from Treffen do not luminescence.



A STUDY OF THE USE IN ROMAN TIMES AND A PETROGRAPHIC CHARACTERISATION OF THE LIMESTONE FROM THE WESTERN REGION

OF THE ‘SURCO INTRABÉTICO’ IN THE PRESENT-DAY PROVINCE OF MALAGA (SPAIN)

J.BELTRÁN1, J. ESPINOSA2, M.L. LOZA3 AND M.ROMERO4

1Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología; C/ Dña Maria Padilla, 41004 Sevilla, Spain; [email protected]

2Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico de la Junta de Andalucía. Laboratorio de Geología. 3Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico de la Junta de Andalucía. Servicio de Planificación de la

Dirección General de Bienes Culturales. 4Servicio de Arqueología del Ayuntamiento de Antequera.

During the Roman period, the limestone outcrops in the area of the ‘Surco Intrabético’ were heavily quarried to supply the towns in this part of Baetica, as well as for exporting to other areas, as we can see in the Guadalquivir valley. Our study focuses on the quarrying and use of the white and reddish-white oolitic limestones, known generically as El Torcal red marble, which is found in the western sector of the ‘Surco Intrabético’, in the present-day province of Malaga, between the Ronda Mountains and ‘El Torcal de Antequera’. It analyses the remains of ancient quarries (Acinipo, ‘Los Castillejos’ in Teba, ‘El Torcal’ and ‘Sierra de las Cabras’ in Antequera, etc.) and their use in archaeological materials from the Roman period (architectural elements, sculptures, facings, stone inscriptions).

Through the petrographic characterisation of extraction remains found at the quarries and selected archaeological material from important Roman sites, we analyse the distribution of the products made with this type of stone during the Roman Imperial period.



CATALOG AND PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF MARBLE AND MARBLE MATERIALS OF THE HISPANO-ROMAN CITY OF ARUCCI / TUROBRIGA

(AROCHE, HUELVA, SPAIN)

J. BERMEJO

Área de Arqueología. Universidad de Huelva, Spain; [email protected]

Since too much a decade be become the works at the archaeological site of city Arucci / Turobriga, by Archeological Area of University of Huelva (Spain), have been found a large group spaces, that have been contributed many marmoreal discovered corresponding to process of building that begin in the last decades of the first middle I a.C, and during all century. Different public’s monuments spaces of the city have been generous in registration, showing a large volume marbles in him architectonic and decorative materials. In this work be present a first marble catalog, and so a preliminary identification, that to serve as first study for a future mineralogy analysis that help to determine origins, and marbles traffic commercial.



PROVENANCE STUDY OF THE WHITE MARBLE OF A HEAD OF C. J. CAESAR FOUND IN THE RHONE RIVER AT ARLES (FRANCE)

PH. BLANC1, PH. BROMBLET2, L. LONG3 AND L. LEROUX4

1Université Pierre & Marie Curie, Laboratoire de Biominéralisations et Paléoenvironnements, case courrier 116, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France; [email protected]

2Centre interrégional de conservation et de restauration du patrimoine, 21 rue Guibal, 13003 Marseille, France; [email protected]

3Département des recherches archéologiques subaquatiques et sous-marines, 147 Plage de l’Estaque, 13016, Marseille, France; [email protected]

4Laboratoire de recherche des monuments historiques, 29 rue de Paris, 77420 Champs sur Marne, France; [email protected]

Since 2007, several underwater excavations have been undertaken by diving in the Rhône River at the level of Arles town. Within several bronze and stone sculptures, a head of Caius Julius Caesar was uncovered. The bust is carved in white marble. The discovery is important as Caesar was the founder of the Roman colony of Arles. The sculpture moreover portraits an aged Caesar, different from the usual conventional busts of the dictator, carved after he died. It has been assumed that it could have been carved when Caesar was alive.

After preliminary macroscopic examination, the identification of the marble material was investigated on very small scales sampled with the assistance of the conservators. Various types of analyse were carried out, including the main petrographical features description, Mn content, cathodoluminescence, Carbon and Oxygen isotopic study. The results show that the marble comes from the quarries of Dokimeion in central Anatolia. This marble material provenance enhanced the hypothesis that this head was carved during Caesar life.



THE SOURCE AREA OF MARBLES USED IN ROMAN ARTEFACTS

S. BRODHAG1, J. CHAMAY2, D. DECROUEZ3, A. EBERT1, E. GNOS3, H. HAAS1, P.A. PROZ3 AND K. RAMSEYER1

1Geologisches Institut, Universität Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1, CH-3012 Bern, Schwitzerland; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[email protected] 2Conservateur honoraire, Musée d’art et d’histoire de la Ville de Genève, Schwitzerland;

[email protected] 3Muséum d’histoire naturelle de la Ville de Genève, 1 route de Malagnou, CP 6434, CH-1211 Genève

6, Schwitzerland; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

The source area of white marbles used in the ~ 150 Roman marble artefacts stored at the Musée d’art et d’histoire (Geneva) has been studied (Chamay et al., 2009). A combination of techniques, e.g., petrographic examinations, stable isotope analysis and cathodoluminescence microscopy, was applied to unravel the origin of the marbles. This identification of the provenance may help to discover forgeries and exchanges routes between populations at specific times.

We present some marble portraits, divinities, burial art artefacts and other fragments where the determination of the source area significantly improved the archaeological results.

These examples prove that (1) sculptures of doubtful origin are indeed of Roman creation, (2) objects of prestige produced with Mediterranean marble were imported to Geneva during the Roman period, and (3) most of the 4th/5th century AD. burial art artefacts in Arles (France) are produced from Carrara marble.

References

Chamay, J., Decrouez, D. & Ramseyer, K. 2009. Art Romain. Origine des marbres des sculptures en pierre du Musée d’art et d’histoire de Genève. Complément au Tome II, Jacques Chamay & Jean-Louis Maier, ART ROMAIN, Sculptures en pierre du Musée de Genève, 1989, Verlag Philipp von Zabern, Mainz am Rhein (in press).



INFLUENCE OF SECOND PHASES ON MICROFABRIC OF MARBLES FROM NAXOS

S. BRODHAG1, A. EBER1, E. GNOS2, D. DECROUEZ2 AND K. RAMSEYER1

1Institut für Geologie, Universität Bern, Baltzerstrasse 1+3, CH-3012 Bern, Schwitzerland; [email protected]

2Muséum d’histoire naturelle, 1, route de Malagnou, CP 6434, CH-1211 Genève 6, Schwitzerland

Quantitative microstructural analyses (grain size, size distribution, grain shape and orientation) are a powerful tool to identify the origin of marbles (e.g., Schmid et al. 1999; Capedri and Venturelli, 2004; Ebert et al., 2009). Quantification of fine-grained (<1mm) marble microfabrics can be obtained by transmitted light microscopy, by scanning electron microscopy, or by using an electron backscatter detector (EBSD; e.g., Bestmann & Prior, 2003). In the case of coarse-grained marbles (cm range), microstructures can only be quantified using alternative high-resolution photographic methods (e.g., Ebert et al., 2009). If this microstructure information is combined with carbon and oxygen stable isotope data and cathodoluminescence luminosity, an assessment of marble provenance is commonly possible.

However, when studying recent and antique marble quarries on the island of Naxos, Greece, it became obvious that strong microfabric variations occur at outcrop scale although they have undergone the same metamorphic history.

The observed microstructural variations are due to the presence of different amounts of second phases, such as dolomite in the marbles studied. It is not only the volume fraction and the size of second phases, but also its shape that influence the microfabric. Second phases pin and drag grain boundaries of the matrix phase, resulting in a retardation of grain coarsening and hindering the grain boundary mobility (e.g., Herwegh & Berger, 2004). By analyzing microstructures in pure and second-phase-rich marbles from Naxos, the influence of the second phases can be quantified and microstructures can be corrected for their second-phase influence (constant Z value, Ebert et al., 2009), an important step if different microstructures are compared.

Thus, when using the average grain size in second phase bearing antique marbles, it is necessary to apply a correction before the data are comparable with microstructures of pure marbles of the same quarry.



THE DECORATIVE STONEWORKS IN THE EAST OF ROMAN GAUL: RECENT DATA OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL OPERATIONS

V. BRUNET-GASTON AND CH. GASTON

INRAP Grand-Est, IRAA USR 3155, 10, Chemin de FRANOIS, F – 70600 Ecuelle, France; [email protected]

Thanks to certain recent archaeological excavations of the INRAP in the East of France (Bourgogne : Autun, Imphy ; Franche-Comté : Besançon, Port s/s Saône ; Alsace : Bergheim ; Champagne : Reims, Troyes, etc.), the diffusion of the Mediterranean marbles in Roman Gaul increases new points of reference on the cards of distribution.

The elements found in archaeological context make it possible to define preferential uses according to the times. The corpus consists of architectonic elements, of furniture of garden, sculptor, mouldings and platings.

Starting from the assumptions of the recent studies on the costs of the marbles, one can also approach the economic and social level « commanditaire » of these achievements. The use of these marbles is done in a range of buildings relatively broad: villa of great scale (Bergheim, Port s/s Saône), domus and monumental achievements (Besançon, Reims, Troyes, Autun - whose synthesis was presented at the time of the preceding conference ASMOSIA VIII) and sanctuary (Imphy).



MARBLE SLAB FRAGMENTS FROM DESENZANO ROMAN VILLAS

R. BUGINI1, L. FOLLI1 AND E. ROFFIA2

1Istituto Conservazione e Valorizzazione Beni Culturali, via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milan, Italy; [email protected]

2Soprintendenza Archeologica della Lombardia, via De Amicis 11, 20123 Milan, Italy

Two roman archaeological sites were investigated in the area surrounding the lake Garda (Brescia, Lombardy, Italy): the villa of Desenzano Borgo Regio near the lake southern shore and the villa of Desenzano Faustinella, on the morenic hills. A great number of marble slab fragments were found in both sites (Borgo Regio 679 pieces, Faustinella 150 pieces), together with fragments of cornices and statues. The fragments, in the Desenzano Borgo Regio villa, were mainly found in the sectors A and C during ancient and unscientific excavations; they are probably referred to the building phase (stage) (late 4th - early 5th century) marked by opus sectile floorings (rooms 35, 54). The marble fragments of Desenzano Faustinella come mainly from rubbish layers; excepting the room C, where some marble veneering was still in situ, together with a floor mosaic dating to the first half of the 4th century.

The marbles identified in both sites, according to the traditional investigations, are: Africano, Breccia corallina, Breccia di Settebasi, Cipollino, Fior di pesco, Giallo antico, Greco scritto, Pavonazzetto, Porfido serpentino verde, Portasanta, Rosso antico, white or grey marbles with different grain size. White calcite alabaster, Breccia pavonazza and Verde antico were identified only in the Desenzano Borgo Regio villa, the most magnificent between the villas.

The slab fragments show a varying tickness. Borgo Regio: Cipollino (0.7-3.0 cm), Fior di pesco (0.68-3.05), Greco scritto (0.9-2.16), Pavonazzetto (0.6-2.66), Settebasi (0.85-2.5), white marbles (0.7-3.05), grey or veined marbles (0.82-3.05). Faustinella: Cipollino (0.72-1.5 cm), Giallo antico (0.47-1.9), Rosso antico (0.5-1.75), white marbles (0.7-2.3), grey or veined marbles (0.7-3.05)

A great part of the examined fragments, coming from opus sectile or wall veneering, maintains at least one original edge: a straight cut made by chisel or a raw cut made by punch, according to the different nature (calcitic or silicate) of the stones. The varying thickness testifies the use of the marbles in different rooms of the villas. However, many fragments maintain scraps of mortar along the edges whether original or broken: this kind of fragments comes from the opus sectile bedding. The bedding is made of fragments of marble slabs set in a mortar, with the aim to provide a stable foundation to the opus sectile slabs: these fragments of marble remain in place even after the removal of slabs and they are more easily found in the archaeological rubbish.



THE SUBMERGED STONE BLOCKS OF SANTA SABINA (BRINDISI, SOUTHERN ITALY): A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE PROVENANCE AND

TRADE IN ANTIQUITY

A. CALIA, M.T.GIANNOTTA, G. QUARTA, M. SILEO AND A. ANTONAZZO

Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche – Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali - Via Provinciale Monteroni – 73100 Lecce, Italy; [email protected]; [email protected];

[email protected] ; [email protected]

The landing place of S. Sabina Tower is located on the southern coast of the Apulian region (Southern Italy). It is deemed to be one of the most important ancient landing places for trading in the Mediterranean basin. Traces of the human presence dating since the 2nd millenium BC. and up to the medieval age have been found in the area. Among the numerous finds lying on the sea bed of the bay, two ancient shipwrecks have been discovered. One of these ships transported a cargo of Greek-Italic amphorae, dating to the 2nd century BC. The recovered ceramic finds testify that the site was frequented since the archaic age, especially by traders coming from Greece and eastern Mediterranean areas. On the northern side of the bay, some stone blocks with both rectangular and cylindrical shape have been recognized, whose large dimensions allow dating them to the Hellenistic-Roman age. A previous study attributed their provenance from the coastal quarries of calcarenites nearby placed.

The present paper deals with the mineralogical-petrographical study of these objects, with the purpose to identify the stone materials and to compare them with local stones.

The obtained results exclude their provenance from the coastal quarries of calcarenites, but rather identify these materials as soft calcareous stones. Similar lithotypes outcrop in the inner part of the area and used to be exploited in antiquity by the native Messapians. The same stone was also employed in the Greek colony of Taranto to build up naiskoi - funerary monuments embellished with sculptures- as well as subsequently in Brundisium by the Romans. These results prove that this stone material was traded in the region by ship and Torre Santa Sabina was one of the landing places for this.



WHITE MARBLE ARTEFACTS FROM POPULONIA AND THE MARBLE OF CAMPIGLIA MARITTIMA (GROSSETO, ITALY)

F. CAVARI1, F. DROGHINI2, M. GIAMELLO2, L. LAZZARINI3 AND C. MASCIONE1

1Dipartimento di Archeologia e Storia delle Arti, Università di Siena, Siena, Italy; [email protected], [email protected]

2Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, Università di Siena, Siena, Italy. 3Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Università Iuav di Venecia, Venecia, Italy;

[email protected]

The aim of this work is to examine the artefacts of different typologies (mortars, inscriptions, architectural elements, mosaics and sculptures) coming from the Populonia area to identify their origin, the production process and the kind of artefacts produced in the workshops of Populonia and the eventual range of export. Given the good quality of the marble, it is in fact possible to hypothesize its regional distribution, or even further, also considering the strategical position of the Populonia, situated along the important high Tyrrhenian sea trade routes. During archaeological excavations on the site of the town, conducted by the Universities of Pisa, Roma and Siena under the direction of the Soprintendenza ai Beni Archeologici per la Toscana, as well as during the excavations at the Buche delle Fate necropolis, were discovered several artefacts of white marble dating to the 2nd- 1st century BC. Some of these artefacts are probably connected to monuments built on the Populonia’s acropolis under the influence of Roman culture. They are made of a marble very similar to that of thermo-metamorphic genesis quarried near Campiglia Marittima, an area under control of Populonia in the Etruscan and Roman periods, also very rich of copper, lead, tin and silver ores. The Campiglia marble is locally known as the ‘Parian marble of Etruria’ due to its resemblance with the Greek marble of the island of Paros. The archaeometric analysis, carried out on samples from the quarries, where some ancient exploitation traces can still be found, allowed its detailed minero-petrographical characterisation. Comparative analysis were carried on the artefacts coming from the recent excavations cited above, and on half-finished objects found next to the quarry of Campo alle Buche, confirming their overall local provenance and working.



THE WHITE MARBLES OF ROMAN PAESTUM, AN ARCHAEOMETRIC STUDY

M. CIPRIANI1, L. LAZZARINI2 AND S. CANCELLIERE2

1Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Paestum, Capaccio Scalo, Salerno, Italy; [email protected]

2Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Università Iuav di Venezia, S.Polo 2468 – 30125- Venezia, Italy; [email protected], [email protected]

Roman Paestum started its life as a Colonia Latina in 273 BC., and soon became a flourishing centre for centuries, with a mixed population composed by the Greeks descendants of ancient Poseidonia, the colony founded in the 6th c. BC by Sybaritans, by the Lucans that occupied it at the end of the following century, and by the Roman colonists. Its wealthy economy of the Republican period is immediately evident from a visit to the existing ruins of the period, and is also demonstrated by the early import (end of the 3rd c. BC) of marble used for inscriptions, and later in the 2nd and 1st BC for statuary and small objects. A selection of these marble artefacts and of some of Imperial age, including 10 inscriptions, a statue of a togatus, a male portrait and an altar, was submitted to archaeometric investigation for the identification of the constituent marble. The laboratory studies included minero-petrographic analyses by X-Ray powder diffraction and optical microscopy on thin section, as well as the determination of the C & O stable isotope ratios. The results indicate the use of marmor lunense from Carrara for the inscriptions and the altar, and that of Pentelic marble for statues and portraits. The very early use at Paestum of marbles from the Apuan Alps is really remarkable, especially if one takes into account that this marble arrived only around the middle of the 1st c. BC in Rome, and its use was rather limited till the late Augustan period.



ORNAMENTAL MATERIALS FOUND AT SAGUNTO´S MOORISH QUARTER SQUARE

M. CLARAMONTE1, C. DE SANTISTEBAN2, J. BENEDITO AND J.M. MELCHOR3

1Department of Geology Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain; [email protected] 2Archeologists ARETE, S.L. Mail Box 339 Burriana 12530, Spain; [email protected]

3Director of Burriana’s Municipal Archaeological Museum, Burriana, Spain; [email protected]

Most of the tombstone materials mentioned in this study have been found during the excavation at Sagunto’s archaeological Moorish quarter site. The exact location was in pillaging pits and in amortization and reutilization levels. The study has focused the attention on characterizing them petrologically to determine the geological unit and the area of origin.

The results of the excavation reveal that the remains were found in a worship area of great importance during a period which ranges from the 1st century AD to the 3rd century AD. The area was enlarged and some alterations were made in it as well until the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. From this time on it suffered a very important transformation because it changed into a housing area.

All the ornamental stones found in this site were dedicated to worship. They are also richly decorated and the motifs are varied. They belonged to a monumental building located on the east side of the road. Part of the podium still remains untouched there.

It is risky to try to determine the ornamental programme of this building with the remains found, still we could talk about the sectile pavement which could have combined Saetabitanum and white marble among other types of sectiles. The wall decoration which is recovered with plain pannels combined with moulding lastras pilasters in the same marble materials. The whole unit was finished off with some more complex decorations such as emblematas. The remains of these are framing moulding done in Rosso antico. The middle decorative part of the wall was finished off with frieze decorated with vegetable elements done in Saetabitanum and the top part has moulding cornice/ledges in white and Saetabitanum marble.

All the data referred to materials, decorative motif and town planning of Saguntum, opens up the possibility of having found a decorative programme which could belong to the period ranging from the 1st to the end of the 2nd century AD.

The stone study is based on three main methods: macroscopic facies, fine laminate analysis and X-ray diffraction. The study has allowed us to group the samples found in three lithological types: 1) marbles (coming from imports, the Iberian massif or the Betic chain); 2) limestone and microcrystaline dolomites (Prebetic domain); and 3) laminated calcareous limolits (in the Spanish-Valencian Iberian System area).



ATLAS OF ORNAMENTAL AND BUILDING STONES OF DJEMILA ANCIENT SITE (ALGERIA)

D. DESSANDIER1, F. ANTONELLI 2, L. LAZZARINI2, M. VARTI-MATARANGAS3, L. LEROUX4., M. HAMIANE5, C. RIACHE6 AND C. KHALFALLAH6

1Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières, 117 avenue de Luminy, 13276 Marseille Cedex 9, France; [email protected]

2Università IUAV di Venezia, Laboratori di Analisi dei Materiale Antichi, San Polo 2468, 30125 Venice, Italy; [email protected], [email protected]

3Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration, 70 Messogheion street, 115 27 Athens, Greece; [email protected]

4Laboratoire de Recherche des Monuments Historiques, 29 rue de Paris, 77420 Champs-sur-Marne, France; [email protected]

5University M’Bougara of Boumerdès, Faculté des Sciences de l’Ingénieur, Avenue de l’Indépendance BP 38 F, 35000 Boumerdès, Algeria; [email protected]

6National Archaeological Museum of Setif, Rue de l’ALN, 19000 Sétif, Algeria; [email protected], [email protected]

The present study was performed in the framework of the project MEDISTONE (‘Preservation of ancient MEDIterranean sites in terms of their ornamental and building STONE: from determining stone provenance to proposing conservation/restoration techniques’) supported by the European Commission (research program FP6-2003-INCO-MPC-2 / Contract n° 015245). Its scientific objective was to identify the stones (ornamental and building ones) of the site of Djemila (ancient Cuicul) and to determine their provenance in terms of geographic areas. The obtained data and results are presented in an accessible form including photos and maps (so-called ‘Atlas’). The first part of the atlas introduces the history of Djemila and gives an overview of excavations and restoration works. In a second part, the question of identification and area of provenance of the ornamental stones (local or imported) of the site is addressed based mainly on characterization of representative samples and comparison to available databases. The third and last part deals with the study of the building stones and the search of corresponding quarries relying on bibliographic data and in situ investigations (geological survey and sampling) and then on characterisation of collected samples and their comparison to those from Djemila. Although the imported decorative stones and marbles in Djemila are not present in big quantities, the research revealed a significant relationship among this important Roman town of North Africa and the most celebrated marbles source areas of the central and eastern Mediterranean basin. Another alternative possibility is the import of these marbles from a unique source, the statio marmorum of Ostia, where all the marbles of the imperial provinces were stocked. Concerning building stones, the systematic survey of each monument completed by petrographic-mineralogical characterisation and chemical analyses permitted to identify and classify the building stones of Djemila into nine categories: one main lithotype, three intermediate ones and five minor ones in terms of importance (total volume) of use. After identifying the lithotypes of building stones of Djemila, the search of their quarries of provenance was carried out, based on the inspection of geological maps and focused fieldworks. Considering the few available data, investigations for determining a provenance area (or even quarry when possible) were undertaken for only the major and the three intermediate types of building stones. The corresponding quarries and outcrops are located in a fifteen kilometres sector around Djemila.



SCULPTURE OF THE FOREIGN MARBLE IN THE CENTRAL PART OF DARDANIA (PRESENT KOSOVA) DURING ANTIQUITY

E. DOBRUNA-SALIHU

Science advisor, Albanological Institute of Prishtina, 10000 Prishtinë Kosovë;

[email protected]

Stone sculpture in Dardania, the greater part which consists sepulchral and cult monuments, is a valuable source for various studies of this area during antiquity. The sculpture of the foreign marble in special, although according to its number is on the second place, offers us significant data about the origin and the way of transportation the marble, as well as about the workshops of the sculpture. These are being dealt in our paper (contribution) concentrating only on the central part of this territory.

Taking in consideration the so far archaeological researches in the field of antiquity in Kosova, the number of these monuments is not so large. They consist of two sarcophagus and three fragmentary statues – two women and men heads with undefined function and lower part of a cult statuette, carving on very qualitative white and grey marble crystalline, which belong to the import from Attica and Asia Minor – one as untreated block and tooled at the place, while the others are a readymade imports – but the case should be verified through petrography analysis, which one we could not carry out All of these have been found in the well-known antic centre of Ulpiana and its areal, and these are extended in a period of time from the 2nd century until the first part of the 4th century.

These monuments of high artistic quality prove the presence of stone sculpture of this artistic level in the central part of Dardania, as well as of the presence of a rich clientele and of its trade connections with Greece and Asia Minor during Antiquity.



THE MARBLES OF JAUME I: A GROUP COMING FROM THE PROVINCIAL FORUM OF TARRACO

J.A. DOMINGO2 , R. AROLA1 AND N. GASULL3

1 [email protected] 2 Via Paraguay 5, 00198 Roma, Italy; [email protected]

3 [email protected]

The Provincial Forum is one of the most well-known monuments in Tarraco. Nevertheless, still it raises many questions, such as the possible location of Augusto's temple in the top terrace, both constructive phases of the colonnade that surrounded the temple, the existence or not of a colonnade in the low square, and so on. They are subjects for a long time studied in the numerous existing bibliography.

In spite of the importance of this monument, some gaps still remain to be studied. One of them concerns the marmoreal decoration of this enclosure; we do not refer to the big architectural elements but to the marble plates that decorated principally the interior walls and the pavements. They show, at the same time that the grandeur of the complex, an exquisite selection of the most valued materials.

In this communication, it appears one of the most numerous marmoreal sets located in Tarraco, which is formed by more than 5.800 pieces. One thousand of them belong to fragments of marble plates, cornices, friezes and columns appeared during the works of excavation in the former Jaume I school of Tarragona, in the surrounding areas of the top square of the Provincial Forum.

The find of these pieces raises a series of questions that are bound to the origin of big elements of architectural decoration, mainly in Luni, in the surrounding areas of Sant Llorenç street, Puid d'en Pallàs, the Plaça del Forum and the Portal del Carro. Was there a workshop of disassembly of the structures of the Provincial Forum located in this sector, for its reutilization or reduction to lime? Was there a marmoreal store with the same purpose at that place? Some Visigoth decorative elements, which come from the same sector of the city, can throw some light on these questions.



SR, PB AND ND ISOTOPE CHARACTERISATION OF CLASSICAL MARBLES

B. EGLINGTON1AND D. ATTANASIO2

1Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory, Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan, 114 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E2, Canada; [email protected]

2Istituto Struttura della Materia, CNR, Via Salaria km. 29.3, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected]

Various techniques have been used to characterise the provenance of classical marbles. Combinations of data for oxygen and carbon isotopes with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) generally provide the most robust distinction of different sources but not all sites can be unequivocally distinguished. �18O and �13C of marble may document the original isotopic composition of limestone and dolomite at the time of deposition but may also be affected by post-depositional diagenesis and metamorphic fluids. EPR techniques, which effectively detect the presence and concentration of trace amounts of Mn and Fe in marbles, are also influenced by diagenesis and metamorphism since these processes typically increase the Mn content of carbonate lithologies.

The Sr isotope composition of carbonate sediments varies systematically with their age of deposition but is identical for all marine sediments of equal age. In contrast, Pb and Nd isotopes vary substantially according to local geography and source rock composition. Variations of U/Pb and Th/Pb in carbonates will produce systematic changes in Pb isotope composition but these can be corrected for where the approximate age of deposition of the marbles is known. Isotopes of Sr, Pb and Nd are generally less susceptible to fluid-rock exchange during diagenesis and metamorphism than O and C and ought thus to provide additional constraints for assessing the provenance of classical marble artifacts.

We illustrate the results of Sr, Pb and Nd radiogenic isotope analysis for classical white marbles from Paros (Chorodaki and Marathi), Proconnesos, Pentelicon and Afyon. All samples have previously been characterised for �18O, �13C, EPR, chemistry and other parameters, results for which are in the existing marble database. The results confirm that the radiogenic isotopes provide additional multivariate constraints which will assist with provenance studies of classical marble samples.



QUARRY ORIGINS OF THE MARBLE SCULPTURES FROM THE ROMAN THEATER IN PHILADELPHIA/AMMAN, JORDAN

E. A. FRIEDLAND1 AND R. H. TYKOT2

1Department of Classical and Semitic Languages and Literatures The George Washington University, 345 Phillips Hall / 801 22nd St. NW, Washington, DC 20052 USA; [email protected] 2Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 USA;

[email protected]

While extensive work has been conducted on architectural, funerary, and sculptural marbles discovered in Israel and on funerary and sculptural marbles from Syria, only a few studies have been conducted on marble artifacts from Roman period Jordan, and those have focused solely on architectural marble, which is known to have been quarried and shipped differently than marble statuary. This study is the first in a series, designed to document and interpret the quarry origins of the three-dimensional marble statuary that was imported and installed in the major monuments of urban centers in Roman Arabia. Six marble statues that were discovered in the Roman Theater of Amman in 1957 were sampled, including colossal statues of a Cuirassed Emperor, a Draped Female, an Asklepios, and a Herakles, and one-third-life-size representations of Athena and Hermes. The samples were analyzed for maximum grain size (MGS), and by X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and stable isotope analyses. The absence of magnesium in all samples, as determined by XRF, indicates that they are all calcitic marble. The combination of MGS and isotopic analyses suggests that the pieces come from a variety of quarries in Greece and Turkey. This paper introduces the sculptures, their findspots, dates, artistic associations, and original architectural context, and then presents the results of the scientific analyses of their marble. Not only do these results provide specific data for the connections between Roman Arabia and other marble-rich provinces of the empire, but they fill a void on the map of the broader imperial marble trade. In addition, the paper discusses how new knowledge of the quarry origins of this sculptural group can further our understanding of the economics and logistics of the decoration of previously-published monuments from sites such as Amman, Gerasa, Petra, and Gadara. Finally, the political and social goals of the patrons of these expensive, imported artifacts are considered.



PROVENANCE STUDY OF A MARBLE FRAGMENT WITH MENORAH

K. GALOR

Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design, USA; [email protected]

A unique white marble fragment featuring a menorah flanked by a column is currently on display at the Jewish Museum of New York. The object is labeled as possibly coming from Israel and as being Late Roman in date (3rd-4th century CE). As the original archaeological context is not known, there is much room for speculation as to the origin and history of the piece. To the present, only a short catalogue entry is devoted to this unique piece, and though numerous studies dealing with Jewish sarcophagi and similar iconographic themes have been published, no scholarly treatment of the object has been attempted. This paper investigates the fragment by using a two-sided approach, combining a traditional iconographic/art historical study with a scientific marble analysis. A systematic comparison of the fragment, taking into account the medium, size and representational characteristics, with other similar known objects from Israel (primarily Beth Shearim) and Italy (Rome), will provide some evidence for the function and provenance of the original object. The combined approach of conducting isotope EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy) and petrography tests will enable the involved scientists (Donato Attanasio, Istituto Struttura della Materia, CNR, and Julia E. Cox, Stable Isotope Lab, Department of Geology, University of Georgia) to test the primary conclusions reached on purely art historical grounds, namely that the object was indeed part of a sarcophagus, fabricated and used most likely in Rome, or is potentially even a fake.



MARMORA FROM THE ROMAN SITE OF CARRANQUE (TOLEDO, SPAIN).

V. GARCÍA-ENTERO1 AND S. VIDAL 2

1Profesora Ayudante Doctor de Hª. Antigua de la UNED Facultad de Geografía e Historia. C/ Senda del Rey 7, 5ª Planta, nº 525, Madrid 28040, Spain; [email protected]

2Conservador de Museos del MCu. ARQVA Museo Nacional de Arqueología Subacuática de Cartagena. Pso. del Muelle Alfonso XII 22, 30202 Cartagena, Spain; [email protected]

The Roman-medieval site of Carranque (Toledo) is located on the right bank of the Guadarrama river, in the territorium of the old city of Toletum, regal seat of the Visigoth kingdom since Atanagildo´s reign (555-557).

Among the buildings brought to light since 1985, a large civil construction, a palatium, related to an important late-Roman landowner stands out.

This building was profusely decorated with marmora from the main quarries of the Empire, among them Egyptian marmora (porfido rosso, nero and egiziano, granito verde della sedia di San Lorenzo, granito bianco e nero, granito rosso di Assuan), Greeks (serpentino, breccia verde di Sparta, rosso antico, verde antico, cipollino, fior di pesco, breccia di Sciro, marmor pario, marmor from Tassos), Turkish (pavonazzetto, breccia corallina, africano, marmor iassense, bigio antico, proconessio), north African (giallo antico) and Hispanics (Estremoz, Almadén de la Plata, Espejón, caliza roja de Cabra and Buixcarró).

We submit a proposal of reconstruction of the parietal and pavimental marble decoration of one of the rooms of this Palatium based on the review of the totality of the marmor recovered during former excavations.



DATA FOR THE STUDY AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE ORIGIN OF EPIGRAPHIC SUPPORTS: SOME SPECIFIC EXAMPLES FROM ROMAN TIMES

M. GENERA

Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació, Generalitat de Catalunya SEDPGYM, Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

Our purpose is to present the data collected from the study of the more important epigraphic findings of the area of influence of Dertosa, with the objective of being able to identify its original location accurately. We refer to the ‘funeral Estela of Vinebre’, the ‘Estela of the boat’ of (Tortosa), as well as the inscription discovered in Mianes in 1984.

It is based on a multidisciplinary investigation, not only with regard to macroscopic criteria (colour, lithology, fracture, texture, etc.), but also in the metrology of each piece studied here, as well as the stone-masons’ working blocks and off-cuts in the quarries, located on the shores of this area of the valley of the Ebro. The traditional techniques used in the quarries and by the stone-masons are also considered; techniques that are still very much alive in this region.

The excavation works in different proto-historical deposits are referenced: Castellons, (Flix), the settlements of Sant Miquel and Sebiques, in Vinebre, as well as some settlements from Roman time: Fontjoana (Vinebre), Barrugat (Bítem) and (Costa dels Capellans, ‘plaça de l' Olivera’, ‘plaça d’Alfonso XII’, etc.

With the data collected by means of this line of investigation we have deepened the knowledge of the Roman presence in this territory - a subject that remains, to this day, very little known.



THE ROMAN CAPITALS RE-USED IN THE SAINT-JOHN SEPULCHRE CHURCH IN BRINDISI (SOUTHERN ITALY): IDENTIFICATION AND PROVENANCE OF

MARBLE

M.T. GIANNOTTA, A. CALIA AND G. QUARTA

Consiglio nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali – Campus Univeritario, Via Provinciale Monteroni – 73100 Lecce, Italy; [email protected],


The church of Saint-John Sepulchre in Brindisi was built around the end of the 11th century. Apulian Romanesque architecture is marked by a large-scale use of architectural marble elements taken from ancient monuments. The study of re-used architectonic pieces (spolia) is strictly connected to that of the identification of the places and monuments of origin. Columns, capitals and other architectural elements of Saint-John Sepulchre church are spolia marbles. The columns inside the building exhibit different type of capitals. Some of them were made at the time the church was built, others are re-used elements. The latter include six capitals of the Corinthian type dated to the imperial age (2nd to 3rd centuries AD).

The present work offers the results of a multidisciplinary study conducted on Roman capitals in white marble. With the aim of improving our knowledge of the sources of such materials and the areas they were taken from, we conducted a typological study of the capitals coupled with the study of the mineralogical-petrographic features of the constituent marbles (by means of X-Ray diffraction analyses and observation of thin sections with an optic microscope) in combination with stable isotope analyses. Those identified are Pentelic, Parian and Prokonnesian marble. The source of capitals could be an ancient monument of the Roman colony of Brundisium, on the site present town of Brindisi.



ABOUT THE PROVENANCE OF THE ‘SERPENTINA VERDE RANA FILAMENTOSA’

M. GOMEZ

Politecnico di Torino - Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino, Italia; [email protected]

Faustino Corsi in 1828 describes the ‘verde ranocchia’ as one of several varieties of ‘Lapis ophites’ that he believes all coming from Egypt; after him only a few indications are available in literature about his uses and even less about his provenance.

Twentieth century authors accepted with a few reservations the proposal from Raniero Gnoli on his origin from Piedmont (Italy, north-western Alps), but this conjecture, that is called here into question, it has never been verified from the geographical point of view end probably it reflects only a generic classification of the rock as a kind of serpentinite, widespread rocks in the Piedmont Alps.

We refer to a recent detection of outcrop of ‘Serpentina verde rana filamentosa’ showing signs of a presumable quarry activities surely ancient even if of small extension.

It describes the main features minero petrographic physical properties of the rock the interesting results of the comparison with samples preserved in historical collections, Grassi, Gui Pescetto in addition to some elements of the reuse in a few baroque decorations in Rome.

Finally, we will propose a comparison with some excavation finds escaped until now to a correct petrographic classification from a Roman villa located a few kilometres from the outcrop.



THE WHITE MARBLE FROM VALLE VARAITA (PIEDMONT, ITALY)

M. GOMEZ

Politecnico di Torino - Corso Duca degli Abruzzi, 24 - 10129 Torino, Italia; [email protected]

This contribution describes the current knowledge on the white marble of the Valle Varaita spread in Piedmont (Italy) during Roman empire, a kind of marble almost unknown I spoke about in the last ten years.

Among the white marbles of Piedmont is the one that has by far the greater continuity of employment from antiquity until the eighteenth century, but later it was not longer used and was forgotten.

For this reason in the last decade it has been necessary a thorough investigation to identify the quarries but specially his uses throughout the territory.

Probably starting from Hadrian age, when the use of white marbles increases so much that in many regions it begins production of marble similar to those used in imperial monuments, white marble of Valle Varaita begins to be used in the creation of funerary monuments and in some works of sculpture, until the probably whole coating of amphitheatre of Pollenzo (Pollentia).

You have some of the physical and petrographic characteristics of the marble, compared with those of some of the best known roman marbles. Describing the quarries and a few dozens of elements among sculptures, stele and sepulchral monuments, as well as others architectural elements for the most part coming from Roman amphitheatre of Pollenzo with many others who found a new use in medieval architecture.



ROMAN MARBLES AT THE TARRACO OF THE ANTONINANS: THE ASSEMBLAGE OF SANT PAU AND SANTA TECLA HOSPITAL (TARRAGONA,

SPAIN)

A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M. 1 2 AND J. LÓPEZ VILAR 1

1 Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected]

2 Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici B, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain; [email protected]

The discovery of imported ancient marbles at the archaeological excavations of Tarragona is common. This is not surprising given the importance of the town in Roman times as capital of the provincia Tarraconensis as well as its excellent location in terms of maritime communications, which made Tarraco the arrival point of many goods, both from the eastern and western Mediterranean.

The exploitation in Roman times of a local limestone that, thanks to its decorative properties, can be included among the marmora, ‘Santa Tecla stone’, is well known. However, imported marbles are also found at Tarraco: mainly the white marble of Luni-Carrara but also others, although on a smaller ratio.

Often these marbles are found out of context, pulled off the monuments that they decorated and in secondary use, either within waste contexts, reused as building material or re-elaborated in later periods. Thus, it is important to celebrate the identification of assemblages in a clear, well-dated stratigraphical position, that still decorate the original monument, and/or coming from a possible workshop.

This is the case of the assemblage that is presented here. In 1992, a small part of the site where the Hospital of Sant Pau and Santa Tecla stands today, at Rambla Vella of Tarragona, was excavated; the rest of the site was previously lowered without archaeological control and, as a result, the existing Roman remains were destroyed. Nevertheless, it was possible to excavate a small sector of about 50 m2. There, the remains of a wall and a pavement of beaten soil dating from Augustus’ times were uncovered; this building, of probably of domestic purposes, was demolished during the second quarter of the 2nd century AD and then a big cistern paved with opus signinum was build. The soil that filled in the structure of Augustan times contained a remarkable set of marbles that are analyzed in this work.

The date of this context is precise enough: it ranges among 125-150 AD, and in this lies an important part of its interest. Besides, the small marble fragments have traces of coming from a workshop that re-elaborated marbles. Overall, they are relatively thin slabs and debris fragments resulting from the rough-hewn of column drums. They are about 40 fragments among which local stones (Santa Tecla stone, Alcover stone) and imported marbles of Hispanic (broccatello), italic (Carrara), African (giallo antico) and eastern (pavonnazzetto, africano, portasanta, porfido rosso, serpentino, breccia di Settebasi) origin.



CHRISTIAN SARCOPHAGI OF REUSED MARBLE IN THE VATICAN

J. J. HERRMANN JR.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 23 Common St., Dedham, MA, 02026,USA; [email protected]

The figure-decorated marble sarcophagi of the fourth century, the majority of which have Christian subject matter, are very numerous, particularly in Rome. The concentration of sarcophagi in Rome might suggest that much marble destined for the Roman market was extracted in quarries around the Mediterranean at that time. Since unused blocks of marble large enough for adult-sized coffins would have been hard to find in old stockpiles, it is logical to think that blocks would have been specially ordered. On close inspection, however, it is clear that many sarcophagi of the fourth century were not newly quarried but created from reused materials. Judging by the sarcophagi in the Museo Pio Cristiano of the Vatican, there were two principal techniques of reuse: first, cornices from the colonnades of ruined public buildings were reworked and second, sarcophagi were pieced together from slabs of stone. The first technique can be easily documented, since architectural moldings appear on the backs of several sarcophagi in the Vatican. In the second technique, sarcophagi are composed of pieces joined by straight saw cuts and held in place with clamps. In theory, the technique could have been used in Renaissance or modern times to move and reassemble the heavy sarcophagi, but the surfaces of the joints and clamp holes look old and have the patina of age. The question remains whether these cases of reuse represent only a fraction of the sarcophagus blocks produced for the fourth-century Roman market or whether they are, in fact, a signal that all or most sarcophagi at Rome were made of scavenged marble. The Vatican collection will be used as a test case to establish the relative quantity of clearly reused marble, possible reuse, and sarcophagi made from completely fresh-looking blocks.



GEOCHEMICAL METHODS IN ALABASTER PROVENANCE: AN APPLICATION EXAMPLE

M. INGLÉS1, M.R. MANOTE2, M. ORTÍ 1, J. PEY2, E. PLAYÀ1, L. ROSELL1 AND J. YEGUAS2

1Departament de Geoquímica, Petrologia i Prospecció Geològica. Facultat de Geologia.Universitat de Barcelona. C/ Martí i Franqués, s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected];

[email protected]; [email protected]; 2MNAC -Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Palau Nacional, Parc de Montjuïc, 08038 Barcelona,

Spain; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

The identification of the geological provenance of alabaster (gypsum) sculptures on the basis of their petrological characteristics is not always possible, given that most of the alabaster rocks have similar features: they are highly pure and white to brown in colour, and have microcrystalline (alabastrine) textures. These rocks mainly (but not always) come from the hydration of a precursor anhydrite rock, and are in geological terms “secondary gypsum rocks”. However, geochemical characterization of the alabaster sculptures can be applied to know the geological provenance and, thus, to help in deciphering the original quarry or group of quarries from which the alabaster was extracted, a fact that can be useful for restoration purposes. The present communication deals with the geological identification of the alabaster pieces by means of the determination of their isotope compositions (δ34S, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr) and the comparison with geological patterns (the gypsum rocks of the stratigraphical record).

This geochemical method was applied to microsamples taken in a number of alabaster sculptures preserved in the MNAC (Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya; Barcelona) during a cooperation between the MNAC and the Departament de Geoquímica, Petrologia i Prospecció Geològica of the Universitat de Barcelona. In our work, the δ34S and δ18O values (expressed in ‰), and in particular the δ34S values, revealed as the most appropriate provenance indicators.

According to the historical documentation, the provenance of these pieces is variable: (a) the Beuda (Girona prov.) ancient quarries; (b) the Sarral (Tarragona prov.) ancient quarries; and (c) unknown provenances. The results and interpretation of this study are as follows: (a) The pieces of a Beuda provenance displayed δ34S values between +21,1 and +21,8 ‰, which are typical of marine sulphates of Tertiary age, as expected from the geological pattern (the Beuda Gypsum Formation, a marine unit of Eocene age); (b) The pieces of a Sarral provenance had δ34S values between +14,8 and +15,9 ‰, which are typical of Triassic sulphates recycled in saline lakes of the Tertiary Ebro Basin, as expected from the geological pattern (the Sarral Gypsum unit, a non-marine unit of Eocene age); and (c) The pieces of unknown provenances also displayed δ34S values between +14 and +15 ‰; this fact excludes a Beuda provenance, and suggests that they could come from a number of Tertiary non-marine gypsum formations, including Sarral. Thus, this method was able to discriminate between alabaster pieces of Beuda and Sarral provenances, i.e. between marine and non-marine gypsum formations of Tertiary age, but failed to discriminate between pieces of non-marine Tertiary formations (possible provenances from Sarral, Gelsa, Calatayud, etc.).



DETERMINING WHITE MARBLE PROVENANCE OF GREEK AND ROMAN SCULPTURES IN THE MUSEUM OF ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITY

OF MISSOURI

B. KIDD1 AND D. ATTANASIO2

1Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri, 1 Pickard Hall, Columbia, Missouri 65211; [email protected]

2Istituto Struttura della Materia, CNR, Via Salaria km. 29.3, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma Italy; [email protected]

The Museum of Art and Archaeology at the University of Missouri contains an antiquities collection of over 8,000 objects, making it one of the preeminent such collections among American university museums. The museum’s antiquities include a collection of Greek and Roman marble sculpture, most of which is of uncertain ancient provenance. The more important pieces include a portrait of the emperor Nero, a rare, youthful portrait of the emperor Hadrian, a third-century Roman empress, and a portrait of a Ptolemaic queen. The portraits of Nero, the third-century empress, and the Ptolemaic queen are allegedly of North African origin. Since white marbles are not native to this region, identifying the quarry sources for these works has shed more light on their origins. Moreover, further investigation might determine whether these portraits were made of imported stone but in local ateliers or elsewhere of native stone and then shipped to their final destinations. Nothing is known about the Hadrian portrait before its appearance in an eighteenth-century German collection. Its recent identification as marble from Goktepe has linked it to artifacts from Hadrian’s villa at Tivoli, where a nearly identical portrait was found. Other artifacts include three Roman sarcophagi fragments, and various works depicting Greek and Roman religious imagery. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope analyses have identified the source of almost all of the marble samples with certainty. The Ptolemaic queen is made of Parian marble, perhaps showing a preference for this esteemed stone at the Ptolemaic court, which may have continued in Roman Egypt, since the portrait of Nero is also Parian. The third-century empress, allegedly from Tunisia, has tested as Prokonnesian. A Roman fragment of a circus sarcophagus is made of Thasian marble, an Asiatic one is Dokimeion, and a season sarcophagus is Prokonnesian. Other objects tested include a fragment of a neo-Attic krater, a statuette of a young priestess, and a stele with an inscription to the Great Mother. Analyses have shed valuable light on the provenance of all these important pieces in the museum’s collection and on various aspects of the marble trade in the ancient Mediterranean.



ROMAN SARCOPHAGUS KNOWN TODAY AS THE TOMB OF ‘KING RAMIRO II OF ARAGON’. ARCHAEOMETRIC STUDY

P. LAPUENTE1 , J.A. CUCHÍ2, H. ROYO1, M. PREITE-MARTINEZ3 AND C. GARCÉS4

1Petrología y Geoquímica, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected], [email protected]

2Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Zaragoza. Ctra de Cuarte s/n. 22071, Huesca, Spain; [email protected]


4Instituto de Estudios Altoaragoneses, Calle del Parque 10. 22002, Huesca, Spain; [email protected]

Huesca was inhabited at the beginning of the 2nd century BC, under the name of Bolskan, which is well documented by its silver and bronze coinage. During the Roman period it was renamed and became the municipium Urbs Victrix Osca. No Roman monuments are today preserved, given the bad quality of local soft miocene sandstone and a general recycling of materials during the medieval, Islamic and Christian ages. Some pieces of marble, all from distant quarries, have been found in archeological works.

The sarcophagus, known today as the tomb of Ramiro II, is the best preserved and largest element of marble at Huesca. Its dimensions are 1.74 x 0.50 x 0.45 m. The sarcophagus is presided, inside a circular medallion, by the togated bust of the supposed first user, to whom the piece was carved. The medallion is supported by two winged genies. Below, a full basket of fruits and two leaning people. The man is wearing a branch and the woman a cornucopia. Two small figures, at both sides, are respectively carrying a flute and a lyre. Hernández-Vera and González-Blanco (1981) did a detailed study on the iconography. They dated the piece, using stylistic reasoning, being from the end of the 3rd century AD. It is unknown the location of the piece from the Roman times to the Middle Ages. It is supposed, by the general presence of Roman pottery and other artefacts in the ground, that it might have been located near the present place.

During the Middle Ages, the sarcophagus was reused to bury the corpse of Ramiro II, third grandson of Ramiro I, the first of king of Aragon. King Ramiro II (24th April 1086 – Huesca, 16th August 1157), was known as ‘the Monk’, and did a peculiar reign.

The sarcophagus is today located in a chapel of the cloister of the Romanesque church of Saint Peter the Old. It was carved on white marble and the front is coated with wax. Through a previous lack of analytical results, it was suggested that was locally made using alabaster from Aragon (Del Arco, 1945).

In this paper, we present the results of an archaeometric study carried out on this marble piece, by using petrography, cathodoluminiscence and isotopic techniques. The provenance characterization is based on available data base for the most important ancient quarries around the Mediterranean Sea and the nearest French Pyrenean.

Bibliography

Del Arco, R. 1945. “La tumba romana del rey de Aragón Ramiro II”, Universidad, 4, 154-169.

Hernández-Vera, J.A., González-Blanco, A. 1981. “El sarcófago de Ramiro II el monje, documento de las religiones mistéricas (¿dionisismo?) en Hispania”, La religión romana en Hispania. Ministerio de Cultura, pp. 355-356.



FRAGMENTARY WHITE MARBLE PIECES FROM THE THEATRE OF CAESARAUGUSTA: ARCHAEOMETRIC RESULTS

P. LAPUENTE1, H. ROYO1, M. PREITE-MARTINEZ2 AND PH. BLANC3

1Petrología y Geoquímica, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected],



The theatre of Caesaraugusta (Hispania) has been the aim of archaeological excavations during recent decades in an attempt to recuperate the remains and document the artefacts found in different stages of occupation. It was first constructed in the Tiberian period and later additions and modifications were made during the Flavian dynasty. The high quality of opus caementicium structures allowed integrating the total dimension of the building. After a plan of restoration, in 2003 the space was open to the public and today is one of the best preserved Roman monuments in the city of Zaragoza. The place is completed together with an archaeological museum where the most impressive recuperated pieces are shown. The white marbles exhibited there were object of archaeometric provenance analyses which were reported in a previous Asmosia conference.

Thousands of fragmentary pieces of marble have been recently catalogued and our objective leads to the assignment of their identification, conscious that the provenance of white (statuary and architectural) marbles provides valuable information on trading patterns and economic history.

A systematic revision of these fragments has been applied, documenting photographs and selecting the lithotypes for a further analytical approach. This paper presents the results obtained to date, using a combination of petrography, cathodoluminescence and C and O isotopic analyses. From this, Saint Béat, Luni-Carrara, Greek and Turkish quarries are in agreement with previous determination. However, some analytical results hardly connect with these provenances. The answer is being looked into through exploration at other nearby Pyrenean origins.



A FIRST STUDY OF THE LUMACHELLAS USED IN ROMAN ANTIQUITY

L. LAZZARINI1 AND M. MARIOTTINI2

1Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Sistema Laboratori, Università IUAV di Venezia, S.Polo 2468 – 30125 Venezia, Italy; [email protected]

2Istituto Centrale del Restauro, Pza S.Francesco di Paola, 9 – 00184 Roma, Italy; [email protected]

The Romans used several lumachellas (mainly limestones and sandstones with a high amount of macrofossils) to decorate public buildings and private houses, especially in the last centuries of the Empire. Normally found in outcrops of limited dimensions, these stones were seldom used for columns (the few known examples are of small-to-average dimensions), more frequently in slabs for facing floors and walls, sometimes also for the bust of portraits normally sculpted in white marble, and for other small objects such as tubs and vases. These objects are not very commonly found in archaeological excavations, and are in any case always associated with precious artefacts. Of all the known lumachellas, only two, the occhio di pavone (marmor triponticum) from Kutluca in ancient Bithynia (Turkey), and broccatello di Spagna from Tortosa (Spain), have been sufficiently studied as regards their origin, history of use, distribution and laboratory characterisation. A third marble, bigio lumachellato, a variety of marmor lesbium with fossilised Megalodon and corals from the homonymous Greek island, has also received some attention in the past, but it needs further study. Here we have limited our research to some of the most important remaining lumachellas, namely astracane (the true version, and the one from Verona), lumachella orientale (from Tunisia?), lumachella del Tasso (probably from Asia Minor), and the so-called lumachelloni antichi (probably from Civitavecchia, Latium) including the type with megalodon sp., which was mainly used in the Byzantine period and also came from Asia Minor. Known and unpublished information regarding the aspects mentioned above is given for all these stones, with special attention to the macro-and-microscopic description of the lithotypes.



FIRST RESULTS OF THE STUDY AND ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSES OF THE MARBLE CARGO OF THE SECCA DI CAPO BIANCO (CROTONE, ITALY)

C. BELTRAME1, L. LAZZARINI2 AND S. MEDAGLIA3

1Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Antichità e del Vicino Oriente, Università di Venezia ‘Cà Foscari’, Dorsoduro 3484/D - 30123 Venezia, Italy; [email protected]

2Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Università Iuav di Venezia, S.Polo 2468 - 30125 Venezia, Italy; [email protected]

3Dipartimento di Studio delle Componenti Culturali del Territorio, Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli, Piazza S. Francesco - 81055 S. Maria Capua Vetere, Caserta, Italy; [email protected]

In June 2008, a team of the University Ca’ Foscari of Venice and of the Second University of Naples, in collaboration with the association ‘Reitia’, studied and documented a cargo of marbles present on the Secca di Capo Bianco off Capo Rizzuto (Crotone, Italy). The cargo lies on a rocky bottom at a depth of 3-4 metres. It had been surveyed in the past by the private company ‘Aquarius’ and dated to the Roman period. The team cleaned all the marble elements to enable a photo-mosaic to be made of the site. Samples of marble were taken from all the 83 stone elements, of which 29 are columns and 54 are squared blocks, some partly finished and others unfinished, including 5 double columns and 2 columns joined to slabs. The total cargo has a volume of 12.5 m3 and weighs about 34 tons. Four columns and one block proved to be made of a red limestone; 22 columns and 11 blocks are in a black limestone; 38 blocks, but no columns, are in a white marble. All were sampled, and the samples washed in distilled water until complete removal of NaCl; a representative number was then used for minero-petrographic and geochemical analyses by X-Ray powder diffraction and optical microscopy on thin section, as well as for the determination of the C & O stable isotope ratios. The results obtained allow all the white marbles to be identified as Carrara marble, the red limestone as ‘Rosso di Francia’, also known as ‘Rouge Languedoc’, a Devonian Stromatactis-limestone that was quarried in the area of Caunes-Minervois (Languedoc, France) from the Late-Medieval period, and the black carbonaceous limestone tentatively as black from Portovenere. The presence of ‘Rosso di Francia’ dates the stone-cargo of the shipwreck as later than the 12th cent.; since we know that this red limestone was much more used from the 16th cent. on, and largely exported to Italy to decorate Baroque churches with columns and slabs, it is very likely that the date of the wreck should be fixed after the middle of that century. This hypothesis would also be supported if the black limestone is been confirmed as having come from Portovenere, this lithotype also having been quarried from the 16th cent. on. Considering the types of marble comprising the cargo, it is therefore difficult to agree with the previous belief that the ship/s could be dated to Roman times. There are traces in the area of the shipwreck of the sinking of a ship with guns, dated between the middle of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century; this allows us to suppose that our cargo was coming from France aboard a modern ship when it found its final destination on the reef of Capo Bianco. This would constitute rare underwater evidence of the transportation of marble aboard ships after Antiquity and would demonstrate the importance of archeometric analyses for the correct interpretation and dating of wrecked cargos.



UNFINISHED KOUROS IN THE MYTILENE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUM AND THE SUPPLY OF STATUARY MARBLE IN LESBOS IN THE ARCHAIC PERIOD

E.E. LEKA

20th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Sapfous 22, 811 00 Mytilene, Greece; [email protected]

The fragment of the thighs of a colossal marble kouros kept in the Mytilene Archaeological Museum (inv. BE 186) is one of the very few pieces of large scale archaic sculpture known from Lesbos. This fact related to his unfinished state as well as the lack of known statuary marble quarry on the island raises interesting questions about the place of its manufacture and the origin of the marble. The paper constitutes the first presentation of the fragment found in the 1960s in Eresos, reused in a late context. It proposes a local origin for the sculpture and investigates the provenance of the marble from a known Asia Minor quarry in use in the Archaic Period



STONE MATERIALS FROM LOCAL QUARRIES EMPLOYED IN REPUBLICAN-ERA SCULPTURES IN SOUTHERN HISPANIA: RELIEFS IN VRSO AND ESTEPA

AND EXPLOITATION OF NEARBY QUARRIES

I. LÓPEZ

Área de Arqueología. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Campus Universitario de Teatinos, s/n. 29071, Málaga, Spain; [email protected]

During the last centuries previous to our Age, iconographic productions are performed on local materials, soft stones extracted from nearby quarries which are easy to model with the tools known by the master craftsmen working in southern Iberian Peninsula.

Therefore, during this Roman-Republican period, in a set of reliefs and sculptures, it is acknowledged the attachment to indigenous traditions, which still turn to stony materials extracted from nearby seams, being the case of certain medium-grained whitish-coloured limestone or yellowish-coloured sandstone, on which expression is given to new topics imported by Italo-Romans. Continuity in technical heritage in workshops becomes visible in the plane, schematic and sometimes disproportionate treatment of volumes and details, with profusion of incised outlines and juxtaposition of levels, although it is also true that —from this moment onwards— compositions gain movement and diversity of attitudes. Thus, several researchers conclude these were the product not only of Roman influences or models adopted by indigenous artisans, but also point out the presence of truly Roman-Provincial sculptors working in these workshops.

Similarity between reliefs found in Estepa and Osuna —most of them including repetitions of military scenes— leads us to think they are works from the same production centre, located in the surroundings of these two Sevillian towns, or at least in nearby enclaves which stock up on nearby quarries from which they extract a whitish-greyish calcarenite which is subsequently worked by means of indigenous-carving techniques under innovative Roman models and solutions.

As an outstanding reference, since Antiquity the municipality of Osuna becomes a strategic enclave among the towns on the Mediterranean Coast and Guadalquivir Valley, as its highest elevation provides Tertiary calcarenite seams , a porous and easy-to-extract material exploited from pre-Roman times until the present day. These quarries provided ashlars for old constructions, when the latter were not excavated in the rock itself, which is the case of the cavea at the Roman Theatre and Necropolis in Las Cuevas. Subsequently, these quarries provided the ashlars for the construction of many of the monumental buildings in the city such as the Collegiate Church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (16th century), leading to intensive works at the Cerro de las Canteras involving subsequent damage of some structures.



THE OPUS SECTILE OF THE OLD CURIA OF ILIPA (ALCALÁ DEL RÍO, SEVILLE). CONSIDERATIONS ON THE USE OF STONE IN PUBLIC

ARCHITECTURE FROM ROMAN BAETICA

I. MAÑAS1 AND O. RODRÍGUEZ2

1Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain; [email protected] 2Dpt. prehistoria y Arqueología, Fac. geografía e Historia, Universidad de Sevilla. C/ María de Padilla,

s/n. 41002, Sevilla, Spain; [email protected]

This working paper tries to deep into the analysis of the Roman opus sectile pavement coming from the recently identified building as the curia of the ancient city of Ilipa (Alcalá del Río, Sevilla), excavated during 2006. Although in most of cases the information about the old city comes from preventive archaeological interventions, we actually have an increasing amount of data useful for the reconstruction of the urban body and the caracterization of different constructive phase. The present building can be identificated as a part of the forum area, as other spaces, probably collegia seats, which also exhibit rich opera sectilia and mosaics.

This study will complete the first notices attending the architecture of the present building. It will focus on morphological, technique and stylistic details of the pavement, whose optimus preservation allowed reconstructing the compositive schema, respecting the standarized measure of roman foot. All those aspects will contribute to offer new data concerning funtionality and datation of the whole.

Last essential goal to achieve will be the caracterization of the materials employed in the pavement construction, which have been object of petrographical analysis. A first approach to their identification make us present some considerations about explotation and use of local stone at an early moment of the monumentalization process of roman cities of the south Iberian Peninsula.



PROVENANCE INVESTIGATION OF TWO MARBLE SCULPTURES FROM ANCIENT STYMPHALOS

Y. MANIATIS1, D. TAMBAKOPOULOS1AND M. STURGEON2

1Laboratory of Archaeometry, Institute of Materials Science, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, 153 10 Aghia Paraskevi, Attiki, Greece; [email protected], [email protected]

2Department of Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA; [email protected]

Provenance investigation was carried out on two fragmentary marble sculptures from Ancient Stymphalos, a Late Archaic kore and a fourth-century ‘Temple Boy,’ housed in the storerooms of the Archaeological Museum in Ancient Corinth. The techniques used are 1) measurements of Maximum Grain Size (MGS), 2) Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (EPR), and 3) Stable Isotope Analysis (IRMS). The macroscopic examination was done in Ancient Corinth, and one sample obtained from each sculpture was taken to Athens for microscopic examination and physicochemical analysis. The use of the three techniques and the statistical treatment of the results, gives the following assignments for the provenance of the two statues: the Kore is most likely made of marble from Paros, with Hymettus and Penteli less likely candidates, and the tests indicate that the Temple Boy is made of Parian Lychnites marble, most probably from the underground quarry of the Nymphs. Exposure to fire and subsequent weathering made assignment of origin for the Kore fairly complicated, but Parian (not the Lychnites) quarry seems indicated.

The results of the provenance investigation enhance our understanding of the Stymphalos sculptures. For the Archaic Kore, the probability of a Parian marble source can be added to features of style and technique, such as the fine, relief-like quality of the folds and the attachment of metal jewelry, to associate the figure with Parian or a Parian-Attic workshop. In the case of the ‘Temple Boy’, the type is common in terracotta, but it occurs less frequently in large scale stone statuary. Identification of the marble of this figure aids comparison with other figures of this type, from Paros itself as well as from Lousoi (Arkadia), Kavalla, Cyprus, and Sidon.



ALMÁNDOZ MARBLE (NAVARRA) IN ROMAN THERMAE OF ARCAYA (ÁLAVA, NORTH SPAIN)

L. M. MARTÍNEZ-TORRES1, L. EGUÍLUZ1, M. LOZA2 AND J. NISO3

1Departamento de Geodinámica, Universidad del País Vasco, Spain; [email protected] 2 [email protected];

3 [email protected]

At Roman thermae in Arcaya (1st – 2nd century AD), on the via XXXIV, Ab Asturica Burdigalam, a few kilometers to the east of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, Spain), a number of parietal remains carved on marble with grey appearance and bluish-grey veins have been documented. Visu recognition offered serious doubts about its origin, perhaps at some point in the Eastern Mediterranean. These marbles have been historically attributed to this environment. In thin section, it is possible to observe metamorphic minerals (scapolite and tremolite), and some characteristic stylolites deformed prior to the metamorphic event. These singular mineralogical and structural characteristics have been described in the Nappe des Marbres, in the North of Navarra, in a narrow band of Jurassic material of Dogger. These rocks, which were commercialized as Almándoz or Baztán marble, were extracted from nine small quarries. Another feature common to these rocks, at quarry scale, is the variety of colours and textures, from a massive white marble, to bluish-grey, ochre and deep red marmorized breccias. These characteristics difficult their visual recognition, so they are easily confused with other famous rocks very different like Carrara or broccatello. Moreover, in the middle of last century it was being sold with those names. Almandoz quarries are located near the road that linking the ancient seaport of Oiasso (Irún) and Pompaelo (Pamplona). In summary, to the extensive Roman mining activity described in northern Navarra: Aritzakun (Au), Lanz (Cu) and Arditurri (Ag, Pb), it is possible now added the extraction of marbles.



ROMAN CAPITALS FROM SIRMIUM (SREMSKA MITROVICA, SERBIA)

A. MAVER1, I. RIZNAR2 AND H.W. MÜLLER3

1University of Ljubljana, Dept. of Archaeology, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; [email protected]

2Ulica bratov Martinec, SI-1000 Ljubljana; [email protected] 3University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Institute of Applied Geology, Gregor

Mendel Straße 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria; [email protected]

The Roman town of Sirmium in the province of Pannonia (modern Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia) offers a wealth of remains to modern researchers of the Roman past. Of these, objects made of stone are well represented and reflect also the status that Sirmium enjoyed as one of the four capitals of the Empire during the Tetrarchy. This is visible in a group of stone remains that is a persistently attractive one, namely that of column and pilaster capitals. At Sirmium, these represent a rich collection that covers an impressive span in time as well as stone material. They will form the framework of this paper, whereby the presentation will be focused on the capitals of the Corinthian order, even more precisely those of the Asiatic type.

Corinthian capitals of the Asiatic type found at Sremska Mitrovica span from the second half of the 2nd century to the 4th century. They appear in various limestone lithotypes, most of them of regional origin imported from the province of Dalmatia, but also in various marbles. Of the latter, analyses have so far revealed Eastern Alpine marble, as the closest source, but also Luni and Dokimeion marbles. Formally, there are normal and free capitals, but also a very specific group showing a reduced structure devoid of the leaf range. Asiatic capitals made of Dokimeion marble stand at the chronological beginning, while those of Luni marble date roughly to the beginning of the 4th century and belong to the types diffused throughout the Mediterranean. The largest formal group of Asiatic capitals, however, is that of reduced structure. Its capitals show only minor differences in form and appear in two limestones as well as in Eastern Alpine marble and were supposedly produced in a local workshop.



STONE PRODUCTIONS OF THE QUARRIES ON THE ISLAND BRAČ (BRATTIA INSULA) IN THE ROMAN PROVINCE DALMATIA

M. GLAVIČIĆ1 AND Ž. MILETIĆ2

1Department for archaeology, University of Zadar, Obala Petra Krešimira IV,2, 23000 Zadar, Croatia; [email protected]

2Department for archaeology, University of Zadar, Obala Petra Krešimira IV,2, 23000 Zadar, Croatia; [email protected]

Stone production on the Brattia insula was described on the basis of literary sources, epigraphy monuments and remains of the quarries. In the whole province Dalmatia the island Brač have largest volumes production, due to supplying of Salona - capital of the province on the opposite continental coast. Additionally, they extended trading business up to Sirmium that is capital of Panonnia Secunda. Architecture in Salone, such as fortifications, wall-enclosure of necropolises and pillars of bridge were constructed by blocks of local stone called ‘modrac’, some sort of marl limestone. For representative buildings such as theatre, amphitheatre and thermae was used more quality limestone from Brač. Stone cutting workshops in Salona, with Greek tradition, developed huge production of monuments, especially sepulchral plastic in Roman times. Stelai and sarcophagi were commonly cutting in Brattia limestone; only small quantity of samples were made in expensive imported marble form Proconesos; and they are rare monuments executed from reused sculptures. Diocletian’s villa in Split, is mainly built with stone from Brač mainly, some parts of the villa with fine sugar-like granulated limestone from quarry in near Tragurium; however some elements like columns are made in more expensive, decorative stone imported from Italy and Egypt.



SUITABILITY CRITERIA IN THE SELECTION OF THE MARBLE FOR RESTORATION. THE CASE OF THE ALHAMBRA PALACE (GRENADA, SPAIN)

A. MIRAS1; M.A. VÁZQUEZ1; E. GALÁN1; C. APOSTOLAKI2 AND T. MARCOPOULOS2

1Dpto. Cristalografía, Mineralogía y Química Agrícola. Universidad de Sevilla. 41012-Sevilla, Spain; [email protected]

2Dpt. Mineral Resources Engineering, Technical University of Crete, 73100 Chania, Greece; [email protected]

A series of criteria should be taken into account before selection of a marble for restoration works. The marble must resemble closely to the that used in the monument or sculpture under restoration. The first step is to locate the original quarry, mostly based on the available documentation and on petrographical-geochemical study. Then the selection of the stone should include a comparative study of the stone characteristics in the monument and the different materials mined, to select the most suitable rock (colour, fabric, petrophysical properties, degradation behaviour, etc.).

This paper presents a comparative geochemical and petrographical study, and accelerated decay tests, of marbles from Macael and other Andalusian quarries, with marbles from the Lions and Columns of the Courtyard of the Lions in the Alhambra Palace (Grenada), as well as with another Macael marble (MAC-ALH), which was selected to obtain Lions copies. The objective of this work was to determine if the marble selected is the most suitable for the restoration of this monument.

The results show that the Alhambra marble is comparable to its counterparts from Macael quarries, but it originates from another horizon, which is presently not exploited. On the other hand, the marble selected for restoration (MAC ALH) is not the most suitable, because it has different fabric characterized by a greater grain size and heterogeneity, and layering with broken crystals and recrystallization activity, which occurred during metamorphic processes. These flaws may accelerate thermo-hydrometric degradation. Moreover the marble from the Lions has a greater yellow tint than

the selected marble, because of the homogeneous distribution of Fe oxides. It is suggesting that a more suitable marble from Macael should be chosen for restoration works in the Alhambra Palace, taking into account the petrographic features of the marbles.



AUTHENTICATION OF MARBLE SCULPTURES BY PROVENANCE STUDIES: NEW DATA BASE FOR SOUTH EAST ASIAN MARBLES

R. NEUNTEUFEL1 AND J. ZÖLDFÖLDI2

1Antiques Analytics, Institute for Scientific Authenticity Testing, Im Rehwinkel 1, D-65817 Eppstein, Germany; [email protected]


In the course of authentication of marble objects determination of the stone’s provenance has developed to an important instrument for the proof of a genuine artefact, in addition to microscopic and chemical investigations of the surface and weathering studies. If a sculpture is manufactured from a marble that turns out to come from

a quarry never having been in trade connection with the anticipated origin of the artefact it is very likely to be uncovered as a fake.

Stable isotope analysis has proved to be an important instrument for elucidation of marble provenances because the ratios of δ18O and δ13C values of the known deposits vary significantly and therefore enable a pre-selection of quarries in question. Since several years strontium isotope analyses are used in combination with stable isotope determination for narrowing down the choice. By further application of complementary techniques like grain size analysis or cathodoluminescence provenances can be established conclusively.

As an example, an idol claimed to be Cycladic turned out to originate from the Greek mainland or Anatolia and therefore could not be Neolithic, although no modern tool marks or artificial modifications of the surface were found. On the other hand, for the marble of a Roman female head a provenance from Carrara, Italy could be established which was in accordance with the anticipated time of manufacture in the 1st century A.D. since when the Carrara quarry had been exploited and thus confirmed the chemical and microscopic findings.

Only sporadic information is available about the grain sizes and isotopic properties of marbles from the South East Asian area in the common data bases. Therefore, in the course of this work, published and unpublished analytical data from various sources as well as own measurements were compiled in the new data base ‘Miss Marble’. The figures were then used for the authentication of marble sculptures from the international art market anticipated to originate from Afghanistan or Pakistan.



FIRST EVIDENCE OF THE USE OF A SERPENTINITE IN THE FLOOR OF A ‘VILLA RUSTICA’ NEAR LUNI, ITALY

A. BARTELLETTI1, E. CANTISANI2, A. AMORFINI3, F. FRATINI4, E. PECCHIONI5 AND E. PANDELI6

1Apuan Alps Regional Park, Viale Stazione, 82, 54100 Massa, Italy; [email protected] 2Restoration and Conservation Department of Architectonic Heritages-University of Florence, Via

Micheli, 8, 50121 Florence, Italy; [email protected] 3Apuan Alps Regional Park, Viale Stazione, 82, 54100 Massa, Italy; [email protected]

4Institute for Conservation And Valorisation of Cultural Heritage, I.C.V.B.C.-C.N.R., Via Madonna Del Piano, I-50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; [email protected]

5Earth Science Department-University of Florence, Via La Pira, 4 50121 Florence, Italy; [email protected]

6Earth Science Department-University of Florence, Via La Pira, 4 50121 Florence, Italy; [email protected]

The excavations of a Villa rustica recently discovered in Pietrasanta (Lucca-Tuscany), at the border of the Luni territory, made it possible to discover portions of a marble grit flooring with scattered polychromes tesserae, dating back to the late republican-early imperial time. The structure of the floor shows a first layer of river pebbles of local provenance 10 cm thick arranged in vertical position according to their main dimension. In the upper part these pebbles are partially included in a ground fired brick mortar few cm thick. This layer is followed by a more or less smoothed upper layer made of a marble grit constituted by irregular angular elements of white and grey marble (Bardiglio) of a probable Versilian provenance (Seravezza valley) with scattered scutulae of a green stone.

The petrographic microstructural analysis of the green stone, together with the XRD, made it possible to recognise the material as a serpentinite. We exclude that the green stone is a oficalce, for the absence of calcite (XRD and ESEM-EDS analyses). In the Northern Apennine the ophiolitic outcrops belong to the formations of the Liguride domain and are sited faraway from the Villa rustica of Pietrasanta. Particularly serpentinites of similar composition can be found in near Liguria (Val di Vara and Levanto-Bracco or Val Polcevera), presumably interested by extracting activity in the Roman time. Therefore the establishing of trade routes, also of ornamental stone materials, between Genoan and Luni territories after the conclusion of the Roman-Ligurian wars (155 BC) and the construction of the via Aemilia Scauri (109 BC), can be assumed. Moreover also some Domus in Luni show the presence of marble grit floorings with polychromes scutulae dating back to the first half of 1st century AD testifying a similar cultural background.



CHARACTERIZATION AND PROVENANCE OF RE-USED ARCHITECTURAL MARBLES IN THE CHURCHES OF S. CLEMENTE, S. PIETRO IN VINCOLI, S.

STEFANO ROTONDO, S. MARIA IN DOMNICA, ROME, ITALY

P. PENSABENE1 AND M.PREITE-MARTINEZ2

1Patrizio Pensabene, Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità - Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy; [email protected]

2Maria Preite Martinez, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra - Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy; [email protected]

Here we present the results of the isotopic analyses carried out on samples taken from columns or other architectural elements (bases and capitals) of the churches of San Pietro in Vincoli, Santo Stefano Rotondo and Santa Maria in Domnica (so called ‘of the Navicella’), in Rome: the first two built in the 5th century AD, in the first phase of the Western Roman Empire, the third in the Carolingian age when is recorded a new and more active church building activity linked to the foundation of the Sacred Roman Empire. In all the three cases and as it normally happened through the whole late antiquity and the middle ages, Roman columns were re-used and placed in the church aisles according to a criterion of major or minor uniformity, according to the availability of architectural remains, but all of them were removed from monuments dating from the imperial age which were still dominating the Roman landscape.

The use of the isotopic analysis of oxygen and of carbonium has called for an accurate knowledge of the parameters considered in the marbles taken from ancient caves, obtained analysing a large number of samples taken from the caves or from a number of structures soundly attributed, which had already offered the possibility to the late Prof. Bruno Turi to set up a large database. This latter consists not only of the values of the relations between oxygen and carbon, but also of the mineralogic – geographic characters of the examined samples.

The sampling of the material was carried out with a small drill on sections of the considered structures which were not apparently altered and we have so obtained a quantity of dust weighing only a few mg.

At the Laboratory of stable isotopes of the IGAG, Centre for National Research (Rome), we have determined the isotopic ocmposition of oxygen and carbon on the CO2 obtained from the sample by means of an attack with H3PO4 at 70° using the KIEL II Carbonate Device on line with a mass spectrometer Finnigan Mat 252. This device offers the possibility to analyse extremely small quantitites of material (1mg). The results of the isotopic analyses are expressed in d unit per thousand and referred to the PDB std.

The δ values so obtained have been compared with the database by Gorgoni et al., 2002, integrated with the data by Bruno et al., 2002, relative to the marble from the peninsula of Mani (Greece).



THE STANDARD PRODUCTION OF SHAFTS OF GRANITE FROM TROAS: EXAMPLES FROM THE HISPANIC AND AFRICAN PROVINCES

P. PENSABENE1AND I. RODÀ 2

1Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità - Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy; [email protected]

2Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]

The aim of this poster is to present the findings of monolithic, straight shaft columns made of granito of the Tróade in two different Roman provinces - Hispania Citerior and Africa Proconsularis- in order to point out not only the great diffusion of this stone in Roman Empire, but also its importance to reconstruct monumental architecture and economic possibilities of provincial elites.

In the northeast of the conventus tarraconensis (Hispania Citerior), these elements are concentrated mainly in the provincial capital, Tarraco, where 34 column shafts have been identified. They mainly come from underwater discoveries, from Tarraco's amphitheatre and from old deposit that were later on reused for the ornamentation of Renaissance buildings such as the cathedral of Tarragona and the Palau de la Generalitat, at Barcelona (ancient Barcino). In Africa Procunsolaris shafts of granito della Troade are concentrade mainly in Carthago ( 64 examples), but they are also in Bulla Regia (5), in Ammaedara (6), in Utica (8), etc., with dimensions from 12 to 40 feet.



ARCHAEOMETRIC ANALYSES OF SCULPTURES AND ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF WHITE MARBLES FROM VILLA ADRIANA (TIVOLI, ITALY)

P. PENSABENE1, F. ANTONELLI2, S. CANCELLIERE2 AND L. LAZZARINI2

1Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Antichità, Università ‘La Sapienza’, ple. Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy; [email protected]

2Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Università IAUV di Venezia, San Polo 2468, 30125 Venezia, Italy; [email protected]

The marbles of statues and architectural elements belonging to the Peschiera, the Canopo, the Sala dei Pilastri Dorici and the Serapeum of ‘Villa Adriana’ (Tivoli) were submitted to petrographic and isotopic analyses for identification within a project that consider all the marble decorations of the Villa.

This project is particularly important to understand the overall organisation and clients of one of the few preserved Imperial complexes of Roman antiquity.

The results indicate the prevailing presence of marmor lunense and the use in a few areas of the Sala dei Pilastri Dorici, the Peschiera and the Serapeum of Pentelic and Thasian marbles for architectural elements, excluding the significant use of Proconnesian marble, the most cheap of the time. The analysed sculptures from the Canopo resulted of Parian (the Tiber and Nile gods), of Pentelic (the Cariatids and Telamons) and of the precious white Dokymaean (for the Amazons).



FUNDS FOR PUBLIC ARCHITECTURE AND COSTS OF THE STONE MATERIALS: THE CASE OF THE FORUM AT SEGOBRIGA (SPAIN)

R. CEBRIÁN1, R. MAR2 AND P. PENSABENE3

1Segobriga Museum, Cuenca, Spain; [email protected] 2Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]

3Università di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Roma, Italy; [email protected]

We shall deal here with the costs of the stone material, of workmen specialized in its treatment and of the actual building activity related to the Forum of Segobriga: an important architectural site which can be fully reconstructed thanks to the archaeological research. It also uses both the limestone from the Diana caves at Segobriga, therefore of low cost, and much more precious material like Hispanic or imported marbles.

Based on the possibility to investigate how ancient patronage worked, this research can offer information useful to acquire a better knowledge of the financial resources of the provincial ruling classes, the way they were used by the patrons, the modes also to conform to the official architecture and the role of the imperial cult within the socio – political texture of that province. The difficulty of those searches consists in the lack of evidence, at least for the imperial age, regarding the costs of limestone and other stones used in the buildings and also in the need to reconstruct them on the basis of whatever evidene the sources, - i.e. Egyptian papyri and epigraphs with dedications to benefactors mentioning the borne costs – can offer, though not in an entirely satisfactory way.

Anyway, we do believe that it is useful to trace back the expenditure regarding the construction of the edifices mainly if one takes into account the scarce information about the costs of public building activity – also in Hispania – where the history of studies, especially the epigraphic ones, has dealt with patronage without putting them in relation with the materials used in the cases when it was possible to connect a building with the inscription therefore confirming the generous deed.

We have chosen the case of Segòbriga as recent searches carried out on stones and marbles used in the Forum, do offer the possibility to make an important distinction. On one hand, the use of local limestone from the Diana caves with which the whole set of edifices was built, from the columns, stuccoed and painted red, to the floors of the forum and of the porticoes. On the other, the slabs lining floors and walls for which were used marbles of Hispanic and from overseas import, used in the Curia, from the Augustan age placed southwest of the Forum and in the Tempietto, placed southeast of the Forum, from the Flavian age. In the very consideration of their limited usage, they highlight the main architectural nucleus built in local limestone.

To the marbles of those two buildings, we can add a large number of marble fragments, mainly local but also imported, found in the forum area and traces of wall linings in the northen portico of the Forum: again with the prevalence of Hispanic coloured stones but also with a large use of the Luni bardiglio. These data have offered the opportunity to date the northern portico as well as the Tempietto to working activity of the Flavian age to which therefore can be dated a strong increment in the use of the Luni marble.

Although we ought to mention a few fragments of grooved pilasters and of relative corinthian capitals and bases, in Luni marble, attributed to the lining of the pilasters of the southern portico, we cannot modify the general conasideration that local limestone from the Diana caves was homogeneously utilized for the vertical architectural works with columns and pilasters and for the paving of the Forum and of other edifices. Relevant is the quantity of blocks put in place during the main Augustan phase when already in 15 BC had been built the large basilica (58.17 x 18.89 m.) for which this limestone was used for columns and capitals.

It is possible also for Segòbriga to identitfy a mixed patronage, of local eminent citizens, among whom we can mention the Calventii to whom a large monument in the Forum was dedicated, or a Proculus Spantanicus to whom can be ascribed the Forum floor as we can deduce from the inscription over 16 m. long, and with letters in bronze. This character, and possibly another one, boast the fact that he had it paved at his own expense (forum sternendum d(e) s(ua) p(ecunia)...). An important piece of information, this latter, as it offers the opportunity to reckon the cost of the slabs as they have all been preserved.



THE MARMORA FROM THE FORUM OF RUSCINO (CHÂTEAU ROUSSILLON, FRANCE)

P. PENSABENE1, I. RÉBÉ2 AND I. RODÀ3

1Patrizio Pensabene, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ Città Universitaria – Ple. A. Moro, 5, 00185 Roma, Italy; [email protected]

2Isabelle Rébé, Centre Archeologique de Ruscino. Château-Roussillon, F-66000 Perpignan, France; [email protected]

3Isabel Rodà, Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, Pl. Rovellat s/n, 43004, Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]

The ancient town of Ruscino (Perpignan, P.-O) is located between Narbonne and the Pyrenees, some kilometres from the sea. It was occupied from the Late Bronze Age IIIB and during the Iron Age it was the administrative centre of the area of Les Sordes, before the Romanisation of the mid-1st century AD.

An initial phase of urbanisation, Caesarean or Triumvirate (50 to 40 AD), directly over the indigenous levels, is probably linked to the granting of Latin Right. This was followed by a major urban reorganisation during the Augustan period. It is during this phase, more precisely between 20 BC and 5 AD, that we can date the building of the forum. This monument, which covers an area of approximately 50 x 60 metres, has a classical, very compact ground plan. In the centre there is a rectangular open space with porticoed galleries on three sides, bordered on the west by a north-south orientated basilica with three naves, which is prolonged to the north by the curia. There is a series of shops in the eastern gallery, opposite the basilica. This monument was built in a single phase and shows no traces of any additions or modifications to the original plan. No other shrine has been discovered to date in this area.

F. P. Thiers’ excavation of the forum between 1909 and 1913 turned up numerous fragments of Imperial dedications and architectural elements in marble. Part of this material was being re-examined by R. Marichal at the time of his death and we are today able to use his notes.

Some twenty of these inscriptions pay homage to the Julio-Claudian dynasty and particularly to the Drusus family. It is very interesting to note that the majority are inscribed on slabs of coloured marble, among which we can identify giallo antico and pavonazzetto.

The earlier excavations of the forum also provided finds of architectural marbles: fragments of an acroterion with ornamental apertures, architrave facings, cornices and mouldings carved in Carrara marble, local marbles or (rarely) a black limestone. To these, we have to add dozens of fragments of wall or floor coverings in coloured marble. The architectural elements of the entablature have the characteristic of being quite thin, confirming that they were applied to masonry; this thinness could also be linked to the constraints of overland transport from the nearest sea ports.

The architectural and decorative programme of the forum stressed the use of marble for both wall and floor coverings and inscriptions; this is particularly notable in the latter case, as the use of coloured marbles from the Imperial quarries for public inscriptions is not common. We can imagine that the municipal elite of Ruscino wished in this way, by choosing noble materials, to heighten their prestige in a spirit of participation with the ‘colours of the Empire’.



MINERALOGICAL PETROGRAPHICAL STUDY OF TESSERAE FROM ROMAN MOSSAICS FROM KISSAMOS (CRETE)

V. PERDIKATSIS1, CH. APOSTOLAKI1 AND ST. MARKOULAKI2

1Technical University of Crete, Mineral Resources Department, 73100 Chania, Greece; [email protected]

2Ministry of Culture, 25th Ephorate of Antiquites Region of Crete

Kissamos is situated in the North West part of Crete (Greece) near the city of Chania.

In Hellenistic times ancient Kissamos was a small town but in Roman times the town expanded and in the 1st century AD evolved to a modern town with many public buildings, houses and urban villas. In an urban villa, the house of Pheidias, which was build in the 2nd – 3rd century AD, there is a beautiful mosaic which depicts drunken Dionyssos with two members of his thiasos and his sacred panther.

The mosaic tesserae (fragments) were studied to identify and characterize the raw material and determine its origin. The quantitative mineralogical composition was carried out by X-ray diffraction using the Rietveld Method. Petrographic characterization of the stone fragments was carried out by thin section analysis using a polarizing microscope.

All the mosaic fragments from the stone tesserae, contain microcrystalline limestones, white or/and grey fossiliferous limestones, white marbles, red quarzites, green serpentinites and amphibolites.

According to the mineralogical and petrographical analysis two different types of limestone fragments are considered local materials:

Micritic pelagic limestones with or without foraminifera fossils (Globotruncana, Halobia) from the Olonos Pindos zone.

Biosparitic limestones with shell fragments, from different kind foraminefera (Globorotalia, Miliolidae), from the Tripolitza Zone.

Both geological formations have outcrops near the town of Kissamos.

The Tripolis Zone consists of Eocene and Upper Cretaceous limestones and the Pindos Zone consists of Paleocene flysch, Cretaceous limestones and Jurassic cherts.

Of particular interest are colored glass tesserae, probably imported, which were used to complete details in the mosaics. These glass tesserae contain also crystalline inorganic phases, such as Ca(Sb2O6), Pb2Sb2O7, PbCu6O8, Sn2Ta2O7, and Cu2O, which render the glass opaque.



BUILDING STONE SOURCES FOR CARNUNTUM ROMAN TOWN AND SURROUNDING SETTLEMENTS IN UPPER PANNONIA (AUSTRIA, HUNGARY,

SLOVAKIA)

D. PIVKO

Department of Geology and Paleontology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia; [email protected]

The northern border of the Roman Empire was protected by Limes Romanus defence system which one part is near today's Bratislava (capital of Slovakia) where Danube River created natural border of the Roman Empire. The military camp of Carnuntum (Austria, 20 km W of Bratislava) was erected in the middle of the 1st century AD on S side of Danube on W foot of Hainburg Hills. It was enlarged in stone under Emperor Vespasian (69-79). A little bit later Gerulata military camp (10 km S of Bratislava, S of Danube) was established. Wooden camp was changed into a fortress of stone after 98 AD. Carnuntum as a civil town near military camp became capital of Upper Pannonia province in 106 AD. In the end of 2nd century Carnuntum was one of the most important metropolises in the Roman Empire also with two stone amphitheatres. Building stone material (quarry and dimension stone) for Carnuntum was extracted from vicinity in quarries on NW, N and SW slopes of Hainburger Berge hills. There were especially Leithakalk (Leitha limestone) as Badenian calcareous sandstones up to breccias and Sarmatian oolithic limestones. Stone material comes also from northern part of Leitha Gebirge hills that is more than 20 km SW of the town. These Badenian and Sarmatian limestones are cleaner with small amount of clastic material. For plastic art and more precise architectonic elements porous calcareous sandstones from St. Margarethen (Austria) and Fertorakos (Hungary) was used, both about 40 km S of Carnuntum. The highest quality sculptures are from imported marbles. Some Roman settlements were also on N side of Danube River on Quadi tribe territory. In the first half of the 2nd century military castel and settlement in Bratislava town and castle hill, military station in Stupava (20 km NE of Carnuntum), and Roman buildings on Devin castle hill on opposite side of Carnuntum were built. Roman ‘Villa Rustica’ from the 3rd century was discovered in Dubravka (10 NW of Bratislava). Badenian and Sarmatian limestones especially from Devinska Kobyla hills between Devin and Bratislava besides other rocks from Male Karpaty Mts. were used on the Roman localities N of Danube.

This contribution was supported by grant: VEGA 1/0420/09.



THE MARBLE QUARRIES OF THE METROPOLIS OF EPHESOS AND SOME EXAMPLES OF THE USE FOR MARBLES IN EPHESIAN ARCHITECTURE AND

SCULPTURING

W. PROCHASKA1 AND S.M. GRILLO2

1Department of Applied Geological Sciences and Geophysics, University of Leoben, A- 8700 Austria; [email protected]

2Dipartimento di Geoingegneria e Tecnologie Ambientali, Facoltà di Ingegneria Cagliari University, Piazza D’Armi, 09123, Cagliari, Italy; [email protected]

The scope of this paper is to present a new method to characterize the chemical properties of marbles additional to the conventionally used methods to ascribe their origin to a special quarry or at least to a defined geological formation of a given area. To demonstrate the usability of this method the marbles of Ephesos, the ancient capital of Roman Asia Minor, were investigated. Different types of marbles that had been mined in the area of Ephesus were of appreciable importance for the whole province (e.g. for the city of Pergamon) and have not been characterized in sufficient detail so far. Samples from 10 important ancient quarries in the area were analyzed to establish a database. The methods applied were petrographical investigations, chemical and isotopical analyses and especially the chemical analyses of inclusion fluids and extractable salts (crush-leach analyses) of the marbles. In combination with conventionally used methods it was possible to distinguish different types of marbles that had been mined in the area of Ephesos. Accordingly the two main types of marbles (Ephesos I and II on the basis of isotope analysis) can be divided into subgroups and even single quarries can be spotted. Geologically some of these marbles belong to the Menderes massif, others to the Attic-Cycladic Complex.

The method of analyzing the inclusion fluid chemistry was applied for the first time at the Mausoleum of Belevi in order to investigate the provenance of the white marbles used there. Accordingly the marbles of the main architecture and of some artifacts were mined in the region of Ephesus. The marble of the blocks encasing the pedestal as well as walls, columns, entablature etc. of the upper level of the mausoleum matches perfectly the composition of the marbles from the quarry Kentli Çiftliği which is located some 5 km NE of the mausoleum. The origins of the marbles of the Octogon, a mausoleum within the city limits of Ephesos with a sarcophagus and a series of other artifacts of the city are also discussed in this paper.



MARMOREAL REPRESENTATION OF LAS PIZARRAS (COCA, SEGOVIA, SPAIN): A ROMAN SITE

O. REYES1, C. PÉREZ2, E. ILLAURREGUI2, A. ÀLVAREZ3, A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.4 5 AND I. RODA 4 5

1C/ Cardenal Zúñiga, 12. 40003, Segovia, Spain; [email protected] 2 Universidad de Segovia

3Departament de Geologia. Facultat de Ciències. Unversitat Autònoma de Barcelona. 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

4Deptartament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat Mitjana, Facultat de Filosofia i Lletres, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain,

5Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica, P. Rovellat s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain; [email protected], [email protected]

From the beginnings of our studies in the archaeological enclave of ‘Las Pizarras’ in 2000, the enormous density of marble found in situ and in secondary contexts has been surprising. To this, we must add the great variety of this material.

Though in most of the cases, the marble remains have been registered in sedimentary layers, moved away from their original placement or re-used in later structures, we rely on out-standing examples of this material.

This Meeting is the ideal place to present the diffusion of these examples: we are referring to marbles applied to the coating structure and to integral elements of the ornamental architecture as well.

Likewise, the diverse morphology of the registered pieces offers important information about their usefulness. This, combined with the origin of the marble, reveals certain features and behaviors when applied to each variety. As to the case of the re-used pieces, the panorama is extended, due to the wide diversity of later applications, depending on their form and the degree of transformation to which they have been exposed to fulfill their new assignment.

Besides, the finding of marmoreal evidences in excavations carried out in the village of the former Cauca or in its medieval wall, it reveals the degree of re-use of the ancient marble and the relevance that the building has had among the inhabitants of the ciuitas caucense, even after its abandonment.



STONE MATERIALS IN ROMAN MALACA (SPAIN)

P. RODRÍGUEZ

Universidad de Málaga, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras. 29071 Málaga, Spain; [email protected]

Among the multiple studies completed in the last years on archaeological documentation on the Roman town of Malaca, analysis of stony materials used in public buildings as well as architectonic decoration, sculptures and epigraphic sources gains special interest due to its novelty. As in any other case of similar nature, such materials are local and imported marbles, as well as a widely varied series of other stones from local quarries and, to a lower extent, other imported marmora. However, the still-incipient current state of research on this issue shows up that imported materials and the massive use of local marble from nearby Sierra de Mijas correspond to the great urban changes operated at the city throughout the 1st (fundamentally in Flavian Age), and 2nd centuries AD, and only punctually in Severian Age. Afterwards its use corresponds only to reuses.

The Roman Theatre -undoubtedly the most important Roman monument preserved from old Malaca- serves as a paradigm to understand the changes operated from the Augustan Age onwards on the old Phoenician-Punic town whose disorganized town-planning (still present at the beginning of the Era) was emphasized by Strabo (III, 4, 2). Local travertines (quarries in nearby Torremolinos) were used in the Augustan Theatre not only for ashlars-construction of the scaena and covering of the cauea, but also for the elaboration of bases, shafts and (Doric and Ionic) capitals of different modules which —once covered with stucco and coupled to other limestone from local quarries— served to decorate its front stage. We count on very interesting epigraphic information on subsequent reformations present at the building itself. The large fragments of fluted shafts with several capitals also made of white marble, which were subsequently used at the jambs of some doors in low towers in nearby Muslim Alcazaba (fortress), have been related to such later decoration of its frons scaenae.

The objectives of the present research, developed in the last years, include the identification of other marbles present in a wide archaeological documentation at the old city, both local (apart from the well-known case of Mijas or reddish brecciated materials from Antequera) and regional stony materials (from Almadén de la Plata (Seville), Macael (Almería) and Estremoz, Villaviçosa and Borba (Portugal)) and other imported ones especially documented in sculptural decoration and, more precisely, in very sculptures.



THE MARMOR OF ESPEJÓN AND ITS USE IN ROMAN HISPANIA

M. SALÁN

C/ Sorzano, 7. 28043 Madrid, Spain; [email protected]

This Project is an atempt to study the explotation of limestone from the Roman Time, Emperor Augustus around 1st century AD, in Espejon (Soria). These quarries are located in the Municipal district of the same name, Espejon, in the Norwest of the Province of Soria. Espejon is also 10km from the Province of Burgos, 30km away from the Roman City of Clunia. Both Burgos, and Soria are part of Autonomic Community of Castilla León in Spain.

Quarries of continuous explotation in modern times, having the use of the Espejón marmor been confirmed in a great manner during the 16th -18th centuries. They have been exploited in our times since 1982.

This limestone presents different chromatic varieties, from the yellow, red, breached, ‘jaspe’ and cream color variety to its variety in black.

The project will attempt to appreciate the different varieties present, as well as the possible use each variety way have had, during the Roman Empiry.

In the investigation that is taking place, within the chromatic variety offered in this marmor, only the red, yellow and breached vein have been documented to have been used. The use of this marmor has been evident in building blocks, both for walls as well as floors, moldings for ledges, blocks of opus sectile, epigraphic, sculpture,architectonic decoration, and even as mosaic-tile pieces.

A hypothesis is proposed that a possible use of the black variety is as mosaic-tile pieces. This is also the case for the ‘jaspe’ variety which, when polished, offers a great static richness, that was possibly exploited by the Romans, even though to this day, there is no evidence.

The marmor has been found in the architecture from Clunia (Burgos, Castilla León) in different ways, like buildings blocks for wall and floor, and pieces of opus sectile, as well as pieces in floor-tiles. The most commun varieties are red, yellow and breached.

In Carranque (Toledo, Castilla La Mancha), the Espejon marmor was used for buildings blocks both in walls and floors, pieces of opus sectile and ledges. The most used varieties are red, yellow and breached.

In the Village of Villares (Quintanar del Marco, León, Castilla León), the Espejon marmor was also used as building material. It was used for the construction of column and its base.

The wide use of limestone, creates the possibility that this marmor from Espejon, is not only a substitution marmor, but a marmor of great quality within the circuit of Hispania marmor.



THE USAGE OF MARBLE AND OTHER IMPORTED STONES AT HIPPOS- SUSSITA AND HAMAT GADER (GADARA THERMAE, ISRAEL)

D. SEGAL

Kibbutz Nir David, M.P. Beit Shean, 10803, Israel; [email protected]

The initial research focuses on artifacts and architectural elements made of marble, granite, porphyry and other imported stones. The selected archaeological sites: Hippos - Sussita is one of the Decapolis (Association of ten Greco-Roman cities), founded by Pompeius after 63 BCE. Hamat Gader - (Gadara Thermae) is well-known for its grandeur and impressive Roman baths.

The Ph.D. research will focus on different aspects of imported stones, mostly marble, primarily from the Northern Mediterranean and Egypt. The core of the research will concentrate on the origins of marble and quarry identification. It will also cover aspects of transportation through maritime merchant and Roman routes, as well as methods of construction and the texture and artistic styles of ancient artifacts. The sites that have been selected are of specific interest due to their importance and historical richness as well as there relatively distant locations from the Mediterranean Sea and all major ports.

The site of Hippos-Sussita is located on a considerably steep mountain. Though, this did not prevent the Romans from using this site to build a glorious and rich city with imported stones, some weighing hundreds of kilos. Those architectural elements were imported by way of water to Mediterranean ports such as Caesarea and Akko-Acre. They were then transported inland on paved Roman routes. It is speculated that some of the stones were shipped via the Sea of Galilee to the Sussita pier, from which they were shifted to Mount Sussita. The findings of this research may be compared with other research efforts conducted east of the Jordan River and within Israel.

For my research I have sampled big group of marble elements (approximately 120 samples): Marble Bases, columns, Corinthian Capitals, fountains and Church furniture.

The first results show that the marble Origins are widely varied, but mainly from Asia Minor, Greece and Cycladic Isles.

First conclusions seems that the Marble to Hippos- Sussita and Hamat Gader, have supplied by sophisticated system of Commerce from Eastern part of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. A great effort has been put on import and improves marble and granite in their grand construction complexes for Roman and Byzantine cities, including reuse, mainly in the big Cathedral of Hippos- Sussita.

The current research is undertaken under the supervision of Prof. M. Fischer and Prof. R. Reich. It is supported by the excavation projects directed by Prof. A. Segal at Sussita and Prof. Y. Hirshfeld (of blessed memory), at Hamat Gader. I would like to Thank to the Geochemical Laboratory in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Special thanks to Prof. Lorenzo Lazzarini and his staff, from Venezia University, for his help.

Suggestions: Ph.D. research seems to be in the future and is more the half of written, so the would focalize in the results obtained up to now.



EVIDENCE OF THE USE OF THE MARMOR SAETABITANUM IN THE VILLA DEI QUINTILI IN ROME (ITALY)

B. SOLER1, J.M. NOGUERA1, R. ARANA2 AND J.A. ANTOLINOS1

1Dpt. de Prehistoria, Arquología e Historia Medieval. Facultad de Letras, Universidad de Murcia. 30100, Murcia, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

2Departamento de Química Agrícola, Geología y Edafología, Universidad de Murcia, Spain; [email protected].

The marmor Saetabitanum or Buixcarró marble (Xátiva, Valencia) was one of the main coloured limestones mined in the province of Tarraco. Its use has been documented since Augustean times as support for a wide range of architectural, decorative and epigraphic elements and it became widely used between the late 1st century A.D. and the first half of the 2nd century A.D. The relevance of the decorative programmes in which it was used and the honorific character of the epigraphs it supported made it one of the main Hispanic coloured marmora and it was precisely its ornamental qualities that determined its presence side by side with other rocks of foreign origin in the monumentalization of heads of convents like Tarraco, Cesaraugusta and Carthago Nova or towns like Segóbriga and Sagunto. Until now there was no evidence for the use of this rock outside provincial boundaries. However, the recent finding of a decorative plaque made of marmor Saetabitanum among the marbles of the Villa dei Quintili in Rome has allowed us to approach from a new perspective the commercial, artistic and economic scope of this Hispanic limestone, as well as its meaning within official decorative contexts.



PETROGRAPHIC IMAGE ANALYSIS USED IN COMBINATION WITH C AND O ISOTOPIC AND CATHODOLUMINESCENCE DATA FOR FINGERPRINTING

CZECH MARBLES

A. ŠŤASTNÁ, R.PŘIKRYL AND A. ČERNÍKOVÁ

Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Mineral Resources, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 6, 128 43 Prague 2, Czech Republic; [email protected]

Methodology of the provenance determination of marbles employs several mineralogical-petrographic, geochemical and physical techniques in general. The current methodology approach based on their various combinations was examined predominantly on marbles (in particular, white marbles) from the Mediterranean area in detail. However, other European countries including the Czech Republic also show extensive marble deposits quarried for decorative purposes from early medieval times where a sufficient database of analytical data are still absent.

The Czech Republic is rich in numerous varieties of crystalline limestones (marbles sensu stricto) which were involved with various tectonometamorphic and magmatic events in the area of the Bohemian Massif. This complex geological situation is reflected in petrographic and geochemical variability of marble properties, namely in their diverse fabric (marbles exhibit layering parallel to the foliation or quasiisotropic fabric) and presence of non-carbonate admixtures. The fact that this type of marbles differ from most white marbles from ‘classical’ marble- producing regions also affects the proper selection of provenancing techniques.

The methodology based on a combination of the petrographic image analysis of carbonate grains, the stable isotope geochemistry of carbonates and the cathodoluminescence of carbonates and accessory minerals was examined to the provenance determination of various marbles from historic quarries, as well as marble artefacts of the Czech Republic. Methods of multivariate statistics (i.e. cluster-, and discriminant analysis) confirmed the geoscientific relevance of the marbles determination with a high degree of reliability, as well as the improved significance of the C and O stable isotope and petrographic data correlation. The qualitative cathodoluminescence data provided a powerful additional tool to a differentiation of marbles with similar petrographic and/or geochemical characteristics. The combination of the methods (including statistical evaluation) provided completely unrelated information and thus could distinguish various marbles with a relative high reliability. However, careful data interpretation, comparison with the historical records and juxtaposition of the analyzed sample with the entire artefact or historical monument is always required.



STONECUTTING WORKSHOPS AT THE GETIC CAPITAL HELIS (NE BULGARIA) – TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

T. STOYANOV AND D. STOYANOVA

Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Faculty of History, Department of Archaeology Bul. Tzar Osvoboditel 15, Sofia 1504, Bulgaria; [email protected], [email protected]

Since the time of discovery of the royal ‘Caryatids’ Tomb’some twenty five years ago near the village of Sveshtary (NE Bulgaria) occurred that the construction of this famous monument of the Early Hellenistic architecture is due to the work of architects and masons of high training, experienced in all the stages of stone treatment – from the quarry to the polishing and carving.

Discovery of new tombs and masoned graves in the necropoleis of the Getic capital, during the next excavational campaigns, confirmed this notion and completed the picture of the workshops’ potential in question, and provoked a search for the quarries of the material used in the tombs. In the meantime, the excavation of the city itself, revealed new and important evidence about the stone working and masonry both in the necropoleis and the capital. Two lines of the fortification walls, monumental gates, and additional fortification units, as well elements of building inside the city have been recorded. The main curtain, built with faces of large rough-hewn blocks of local limestone, has width of ca. 3.60 m with a height of at least 7.00-7.20 m and length of about 2 km. All these facts testify that during the up building of the Getic capital huge material and human resources have been mobilized.

Last few years new and unexpected part of the Thracian city came to light – the so-called West Quarter. Laying on the most strategic point for the whole fortification system, it was given the best masonry known at the site to the moment. Faces are comprised by rows of well hewn blocks (quadrae), processed by sharp and toothed cutters and chisels, laid on lower and upper sides given in anathyrosis. At the corners, level strips along the edges of blocks from top to the bottom have been done, as well as other techniques of processing and construction is to be observed.

Subject of the presented paper is the evidence giving opportunity to reconstruct all the stages of stone working and techniques of final treatment and construction at this Thracian Early Hellenistic city with an attempt of revealing of the repertoire of the tools and implements used in the different stages of work of the stonecutters and sculptors.

Given on the background of the local history and cultural relations as well in the broad frames of the main trends in the Early Hellenistic sepulchral and military architecture, the authors hope to give some basic characteristics of the local workshop(s) in which formation and style people of Greek and (or) other origin probably played role



STONE ECONOMY OF ROMAN AMMAIA (PORTUGAL)

D. TAELMAN1, F. VERMEULEN2, S. DEPREZ3, M. DE DAPPER3, P. DE PAEPE4 AND P. VANDENABEELE5

1 Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of Europe, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium; [email protected]

2 CIDEHUS, Universidade de Évora, Palácio de Vimioso, Apartado 94, 7002-554 Évora, Portugal; [email protected]

3 Department of Geography, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 - S8, 9000 Gent, Belgium; [email protected], [email protected]

4 Department of Geology and Soil Science, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 - S8, 9000 Gent, Belgium; [email protected]

5 Department of Archaeology and Ancient History of Europe, Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, 9000 Gent, Belgium; [email protected]

The Roman provincial town of Ammaia (Lusitania) is the subject of a large-scale archaeological research project that investigates the relationship and the interactions between the urban site and its surrounding landscape. One of the examined facets in the project discusses the stone use and the stone economy of the town. We aim to clarify the exploitation of the landscape around Ammaia in function of its building history, and to reveal important trade contacts and routes. The study of the Ammaian stone economy focuses on three main domains: natural stone as building material (sandstone, schist, quartzite, granite, etc.), natural stone for decorative use (marble), and (semi-)precious stones for the production of gems.

The first phase of the project involved the mapping of the stone use of the town, in order to draw conclusions concerning the start of an organized stone industry and economy. This revealed the use of granite as main building stone from Flavian times onwards. Simultaneously, marble was introduced in the townscape. Samples of the granite were petrographically characterized and compared with results of analyses of samples from the vast granite zone north of the Roman town. In combination with a geoarchaeological survey of possible extraction sites, this allowed the identification of the town’s main granite quarry. Clear traces of Roman quarrying activities were revealed after a detailed study of the site. Presently, the area is being fully mapped.

The second research topic concerns the marble of Ammaia. The marble artefacts are observed and characterized by a combination of petrographical and geochemical (ICP-MS, stable isotope analysis, etc.) methods. Furthermore, the large marble zone of the Estremoz anticline (located ca. 65 km south of Ammaia) will be thoroughly surveyed for traces of Roman exploitation.

A third element of the study comprises the identification of the gemstones found in Ammaia. Through X-ray diffraction (XRD) an identification of the mineral will be obtained. Further analysis will determine the provenance of the (semi-)precious stones.



ISOTOPIC, EPR AND PETROGRAPHIC ANALYSES OF 20 ROMAN SARCOPHAGI AT THE MUSEO NAZIONALE ROMANO, ROME (ITALY)

F. VAN KEUREN1, D. ATTANASIO2, J. J. HERRMANN JR.3, N. HERZ4, L. P. GROMET5 AND D. H. ABRAMITIS6

1Lamar Dodd School of Art, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-7676, U.S.A.; [email protected]

2ISM-CNR, Via Salaria km. 29.3, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected]

3Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 23 Common Street, Dedham, MA 02026, U.S.A.; [email protected]

4 Department of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2501, U.S.A.; [email protected]

5 Department of Geological Sciences, Box 1846, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, U.S.A.; [email protected]

6The Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10028, U.S.A.; [email protected]

This project involved the first multimethod analyses of a significant number of Roman sarcophagi. Specifically, marble chips from 20 sarcophagi at the Museo Nazionale Romano in Rome were analyzed using the isotopic and EPR techniques, color and maximum grain size. With the resultant six discriminants, and the evidence of micaceous inclusions, secure quarry assignments could be made for all 20 sarcophagi. Twelve chests without lids, and a chest and lid proved to be of Proconnesian marble. The chests and lids from three sarcophagi were of Carrara marble, and the lid of another sarcophagus, whose chest was of Pentelic marble, also proved to be Carrara. Three additional chests without lids were of Pentelic marble. Seven further sarcophagi at the MNR are known to be of dolomitic marble from Cape Vathy, Thasos, as revealed by the X-ray diffraction and electron-beam microprobe analyses conducted by John J. Herrmann, Jr., and Richard Newman. The most significant chronological finding was the use of Carrara marble for two sarcophagi from 300-350 AD. Fragments in Oslo and New York that are believed to be from the Proconnesian chest with the myth of Marsyas’ musical contest with Apollo are also being analyzed.



DATABASE OF WHITE MARBLE FROM THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT: A REVIEW

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI

1 Institute of Geoscience, University of Tübingen, Wilhelmstrasse 56, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany; [email protected]

White marble, playing an important role in the history of Mediterranean sculpture and architecture and in a large extent in the history of art in China, occurs also in various areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat in India. The Mughal conquerors of India used white marble for much of their finest architecture. The marble for the Taj Mahal was not available locally; it is assumed that the marble was quarried near Makrana, 120 kilometres north-west of Jaipur. Despite the large transporting distance, the architectural concept of the weightless radiance of such a building – flushed by the light of the rising and setting sun, glowing by moonlight, duplicated in water – demanded the use of white marble.

In this contribution we give an overview about the marbles of the Indian subcontinent and Indochina (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar, and Vietnam). Based on literature data the properties (δ13C, δ18O, 87Sr/86Sr, mineralogy, petrology, texture, grain size, chemical composition, and cathodoluminescence) of these marbles were compiled for the first time for archaeometric purposes.

The relevant marble properties were compared on the one hand within the group itself and on the other hand they were contrasted to the properties of known marble occurrences of the Mediterranean and Europe. Some of the occurrences of the Indian Subcontinent are clearly characterized by higher δ13C ratios than the classical Mediterranean ones (up to 6.7 ‰ vs PDB). Moreover, the range of the 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the Indian subcontinent is much larger than those of the Mediterranean marble occurrences (0.70600 to 0.71610 and 0.70712 to 0.70871, respectively).

The data evaluation was carried out in order to find the gaps in the resulted data bank. The compiled data may help to solve various questions, like provenance analyses of archaeological and art-historical material of the Far East, but also may be used to detect forgeries.



PROVENANCE ANALYSIS OF THE MARBLE FROM ELUSA IN BYZANTINE PALESTINE

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI1 AND M. FISCHER2


2Tel Aviv University, Department of Archaeology, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel; [email protected]

Marbles presented in this poster originate from the East Church of Elusa (Halutza), the capital of the Roman/Byzantine province Palaestina Tertia (today Negev/Israel). Elusa was probably founded in the 3rd-2nd c. BC as a Nabatean caravanserai on the ‘spice & incense road’ from Petra to Gaza. The investigated marble finds belong to the second phase of construction of the church, and they may be assigned to the 4th-7th c. AD They are partly still standing on the spot, partly transferred to Kibbutz Revivim (close to the excavation). 10 samples were taken from artefacts at the site, such as bases, column shafts, chancel screen, chancel post and revetment slabs. Other samples were taken from Corinthian capitals, one in the site, nine in Kibbutz Revivim.

Based on macroscopic and microscopic observations they comprise pure calcitic marbles, with carbonate percentages between 84.3 – 99.9%. Maximum grain size (MGS; 0.6 – 2.5 mm), δ13O and δ18O ratios were determined. The origin of 14 of 18 samples could determined unambiguously: 6 are from Proconnesos (Nr. 1, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 14), 4 from Pentelikon (Nr. 8, 10, 12, 15), 2 from Aphrodisias (Nr. 3 and 18) and 2 from Naxos (Nr. 5 and 6).

Based on MGS, δ13O and δ18O Object Nr. 2 could originate from Marmara or Aphrodisias; Nr. 4 from Marmara and Carrara; Nr. 17 from Marmara and Altinoluk. We have observed a strict odour during sampling, consequently, the raw material of these objects was most probably also from Marmara. Thus the provenance question stays open of the samples Nr. 16 (Afyon, Aphrodisias, Marmara, or Altinoluk). This could be answered with the application of further investigation techniques, e.g., determination of 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios and/or cathodoluminescence investigations.

As to the items themselves and their diverse origin of marble, it seems that they were manufactured in certain workshops using, or reusing, marble from various areas and periods, such as in the area of Constantinople, Western Asia Minor or some of the Greek islands. That such workshops could also have been located in the main Palestinian coastal cities, such as Ashkelon or Caesarea should not be excluded.



PROVENANCE OF THE BODHISATTVA MARBLE HEAD FROM PESHAWAR

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI1 AND R.NEUNTEUFEL2


2Antiques Analytics GmbH, Institute for Scientific Authenticity Testing, D-65817 Eppstein, Germany; [email protected]

In recent years, the so-called Bodhisattva marble head from Peshawar (collection of George Ortiz, Vandoeuvres), has drawn the attention of both classical and Indian art historians. This masterpiece has caused a lot of ink to flow because of its originality compared to other forms of Gandhara art. Bopearachchi (2007) described that the marble head was found along with a torso and some parts of the limbs, lying three to four metres below ground level. In the place where these pieces were found there had been a brick kiln which was destroyed during levelling of the ground. The burnt marks visible on the face of the Bodhisattva are due to the high temperature produced by the kiln.

According to the results obtained from carbon and oxygen isotope sampling carried out in different laboratories, it was claimed that ‘the origin of the marble could be from Marmara in Anatolia’. (Bopearachchi 2007) However, since this conclusion was only drawn from stable isotope measurements and because the sculpture had been exposed to elevated temperatures this result is to be questioned.

In order to determine the origin in a safer way, we have carried out further scientific analyses. On the basis of combined investigations, like grain size analysis, cathodoluminescence measurements and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio determination, the marble could have come from Koghiani (Afghanistan), from the Dagan Das or Pasu Baltit marble quarries in the Hunza valley or the nearby site Upper Thalle in Pakistan. For a more precise assignment isotope measurements of reference samples are in progress since information about the marbles from the Indian Subcontinent is rather incomplete (see the of Zöldföldi in this Volume).

However, because of the high 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio (0.708946) of the sample, all known marble occurrences from the East Mediterranean area (like e.g. Marmara, Anatolia), Carrara, Italy and the marbles from the Alps can be excluded as possible provenance with certainty.

Bopearachchi, O. (2007): “Acroliths from Bactria and Gandhara”. In: Srinivasan, D.M. (ed): On the Cusp of an Era. Brill, Leiden & Boston, pp. 119-132.



CARBON, OXYGEN AND STRONTIUM ISOTOPIC SYSTEMATICS OF WHITE MARBLES USED IN THE ANTIQUITY

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI1 AND B. SZÉKELY2 3


2Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, Gusshausstr. 27-29, A-1040 Wien, Austria; [email protected]


Many geological and petrographic systems have been utilized to determine the provenance of classical marble artefacts. Normally the first steps in sourcing a lithic artefact should be the macroscopic and thin section study with the petrographic microscope. Unfortunately, often to take sample, which is large enough to make thin section is not allowed. The most widely used system today is that of stable δ13C and δ18O isotopic signatures. This method can be applied on powder samples of an amount of 100-200µg. Previous studies showed that, unfortunately, many quarry fields overlap in values. Complementary 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio analysis has great advantages: principally the need of only small samples because of the homogeneity of values over large areas. Furthermore, isotope geochemical studies show that Sr isotopes do not fractionate during metamorphism, so the Sr contained in carbonate should reflect the composition of seawater at the time of deposition. Consequently, the 87Sr/86Sr values found in carbonate rocks will depend largely also on that initial depositional environment determined by the seawater composition.

Therefore we tested the δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic system, based on the data set entries in MissMarble measurement and information system of marble (Zöldföldi et al. 2008), how far the system characterises the provenance. δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr ratios are presented for white marbles collected from the most famous classical quarry areas of the Mediterranean: Hymettos, Paros, Paros-Lychnites, Naxos, Thasos, Pentelikon (Greece), Carrara (Italy), Afyon, Aphrodisias, Marmara (Turkey), Viana do Alentejo, Vilavicosa (Portugal) and Las Cabreras, Los Covachos and Macael (Spain) but also some marble quarries outside of the ‘classical world’, like marbles from the Indian subcontinent. 2015 data pair of δ13C and δ18O isotopic system and 412 data of 87Sr/86Sr ratios of the above mentioned marble quarries have been considered in this study. Concerning the Western Mediterranean and the non-Mediterranean localities, our study is the first to compare them to Greek, Anatolian and Carrara marbles. The study confirms that the strontium isotope ratio could be used in marble provenance determination, together with other methods, as a very useful complementary technique, especially in the case that only small powder sample from precious object are available.

Zöldföldi J., Hegedüs P. & Székely B. (2008): “Interdisciplinary data base of marble for archaeometric, art historian and restoration use”. In: Yalcin Ü., Özbal H. and Pasamehmetoglu G.(eds.): Ancient Mining in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean. Atilim University, Ankara. pp. 225-251.



INVESTIGATION OF ROMAN MARBLES FROM SAVARIA

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI1, K. T. BIRÓ2, A. RUGGERI2&3, H. TAUBALD1AND O. SOSZTARICS4

1University of Tübingen, Institute of Geoscience, Wilhelmstr. 56, D-72074 Tübingen, Germany; [email protected], [email protected]

2Hungarian National Museum, Múzeum krt. 14-16, H-1088 Budapest, Hungary; [email protected] 3Thessaloniki University, Greece; [email protected]

4ISEUM - Savaria Museum, Szombathely, Kisfaludy S. u. 9. H-9700 Szombathely, Hungary; [email protected]

Savaria is one of the oldest and most important cities in Roman Pannonia. It was founded by Emperor Claudius in the first half of the 1st century A.D. The city was the administrative and religious centre of the province and gave home to several Eastern cults like the worship of the Egyptian goddess Isis and other religions of Eastern origin (Mithras-cult and early Christian faith).

The ruins of the sanctuary consecrated to Isis came forth during the excavations of the 1950-ies. The building complex consisted mainly of marble decorative elements. The ruins were reconstructed according to the plans of Gy. Hajnóczy, leading monument architect of those days. The new archaeological research of the building complex resulted in new concepts for reconstruction which made possible the investigation of the architectonical elements of the sanctuary together with other remarkable marble vestiges from Savaria. We have sampled 20 marble finds and compared them to marble quarry data in our reference library, known from technical literature and especially data from the Central Danube Basin obtained in the course of a MÖB-DAAD project between Hungary and Germany. We have performed stable isotope geochemical studies on the marbles. According to the δ13C- δ18O bivariate plot of the investigated samples, there are three different groups present among the marble monuments sampled: two, most probably, from near-by Austrian sources. Gummern or Treffen are most likely candidates for the quarry in the case of the most of the samples (14 samples). The raw material of the second group (3 samples) came probably from the quarries Puppitsch or Tiffen. One distinct group (3 samples) have emerged outside the field of the known Austrian quarries that fit nicely for Carrara marbles. The evidence at hand, however, is not adequate to fully identify the pieces and, therefore, further (e.g., Sr-isotope) measurements are planned in the near future.



PROVENANCE ANALYSIS OF THE THREE SPLENDID MARBLE HEADS OF PANTELLERIA (ITALY)

J. ZÖLDFÖLDI1, T. SCHÄFER2 AND B. SZÉKELY3&4


2Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Tübingen, Germany Schloss Hohentübingen, Burgsteige 11, D-72070 Tübingen, Germany; [email protected]

3Institute of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Vienna University of Technology, Austria Gusshausstr. 27-29, A-1040 Wien, Austria; [email protected]


Recent excavations on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria (Italy) have yielded three splendid marble heads of the Roman era. The heads, discovered in August 2003, depict Julius Caesar (100-44 BC), Titus Flavius Vespasianus (AD 39-81) and a lady believed to be Antonia the Younger (36 BC-ca. AD 37), mother of Claudius.

The material of the heads of Antonia und Caesar are fine grained white marble, while that of Titus coarse grained white marble (MGS ca. 1.5 mm and ca. 4 mm, respectively; visual investigation). Because of the very good quality and the good state of preservation of the heads, it was possible to take only powder samples using a diamond micro drill machine. The samples were taken in depth of more than 5 mm (from existing cracks on the surface), to avoid possible bias caused by contamination during storage in the earth, immersion in water, and other weathering processes.

Comparison of isotopic analytical results (δ13C, δ18O and 87Sr/86Sr, see Table) with the data stored in MissMarble (Zöldföldi et al. 2008), like known classical and recent marble quarries of the Mediterranean, Central Europe and Iberian Peninsula showed that the raw material of the busts of Antonia Minor and Titus is lychnitic Parian marble (Greece) and of Caesar is Carrara marble (Italy).

Sample δ13C vs.PDB (‰) δ18O vs.PDB (‰) 87Sr/86Sr MGS (mm)

Caesar 2.16 -1.51 0.707745 1.5

Antonia 5.41 -3.06 0.707387 1.5

Titus 4.39 -2.69 0.707351 4.0

Zöldföldi J, Hegedüs P, Székely B (2008) “Interdisciplinary data base of marble for archaeometric, art historian and restoration use”. In: Yalcin Ü, Özbal H, Pasamehmetoglu G (eds): Ancient Mining in Turkey and the Eastern Mediterranean, Atilim University, Ankara, pp. 225-251.


Abstracts posters session II 164



QUARRIES USED FOR BUILDING THE ROMAN HARBOUR OF EMPÚRIES, GIRONA, SPAIN

X. AGUELO1, A. ÀLVAREZ2 AND X. NIETO3

1Arqueolític Terra-Sub; C/Sant Martirià 56, 17820 Banyoles, Girona, Spain; [email protected] 2Departament de Geologia. Facultat de Ciències. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193

Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; [email protected] 3Centre d’Arqueologia Subaquàtica de Catalunya (Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya), Pedret, 95,

17007 Girona, Spain; [email protected]

Since 1996, when the archaeological intervention in the maritime facade of Empúries began, hundreds of carved blocks that were part of a port structure have been revealed. Most of the harbour was built gaining ground to the sea and its only available protections were the Muscleres Grosses. The construction of this harbour required a large amount of materials which were necessarily transported to its final destination by sea.

This paper analyzes different samples of these carved blocks, which have also been compared with the quarries of Empúries. The comparative study has identified the quarries from which the materials used in building this infrastructure came from, as well as the possible reasons for these to be chosen. Quarries used for the construction of the habour area were local and can be divided into four main types: the so called Muscleres grosses; the Muscleres petites; those in Sant Martí d’Empúries and those of the area where the Malecó is built. Some of the quarries used, as well as the characteristics of this infrastructure, show that the use of lapidary boats was probably needed during its construction. The study has also provided information on the Empúries maritime facade during Roman times and on a possible evolution of some of the harbour structures.



INVESTIGATION ON SANDSTONE DETERIORATION FOR DEVELOPING CONSOLIDATION METHODS

K.G. AKOĞLU1, E. N.CANER-SALTIK2 AND T. TOPAL3

1PhD. Candidate, Materials Conservation Lab., Faculty of Arch., METU 06531 Ankara, Turkey; [email protected]

2Prof. Dr., Materials Conservation Lab., Faculty of Arch. METU, 06531, Ankara, Turkey; [email protected]

3Prof. Dr., Dept. of Geological Engineering, METU, 06531, Ankara, Turkey; [email protected]

Nemrut Dağ is a mountain and archaeological site in the South-East of Turkey, famous for its monumental grave of Antioch 1(c.69–c. 34 BC), a ruler of Commagene. The site contains the tumulus, the statues and stellas. The tumulus is covered with fragmented limestone pieces. The statues and stellas are made of limestone and sandstone. There are some signs of deterioration of the stones.

This study has focused on the main decay mechanisms of the sandstones from Nemrut Dağ in order to develop new consolidation methods. The studies included examination of decayed sandstones from Nemrut Dağ Monument, preparation of artificially decayed sandstone cubes from a near local sandstone quarry by subjecting them to salt crystallization cycles. Examination and comparison of naturally and artificially deteriorated stones with the fresh ones were done. The deteriorated stones were also examined for their physico-mechanical properties such as bulk density, effective porosity, color, ultrasonic velocity. Their microstructural properties were analyzed through thin and cross sections using optical microscopy and SEM-EDX as well as XRD. The properties of the artificially and naturally weathered stones were evaluated with reference to the fresh ones. The expectations from the consolidation treatment were determined for the specific case of the deteriorated sandstones of Nemrut Dağ Monuments.

Cracking, granular disintegration, flaking/scaling especially along the bedding places, back weathering and rounding/notching are the main visual weathering forms of the sandstone at the site. Microstructural analyses have shown intergranular detachment of the grains preferably along the bedding places of sandstones, yielding an enlargement of the pores. The existence and mobility of exchangeable iron oxides in the sandstones which result in change of their colors were also detected.

Nanodispersive silica solutions were used for the consolidation of sandstones and the first trials of the consolidation were conducted. They were able to penetrate into the pore structure of decayed sandstones, partially filled the pores and established cohesion between the particles that were apart. Decrease in effective porosity and increase in ultrasonic velocity were also determined alter the treatments.



PROVENANCE OF SOME ROMAN MARBLES FROM EL PLA DE SES FIGUERES (CABRERA, BALEARIC ISLANDS, SPAIN)

A. ÀLVAREZ1, I. RODÀ1, M. RIERA2, A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.1 AND A. DOMÈNECH1

1Departament de Geologia. Facultat de Ciències. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

2Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat s/n, 43003 Tarragona, Spain;

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 3Departament de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

(UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain 4Cala Mitjana, 10, 07009 Palma de Mallorca, Spain; [email protected]

El Pla de ses Figueres is an archaeological site that was introduced to the scientific community in the year 1985, thanks to Dr. Víctor Guerrero. It is located in next to the harbour of Cabrera, a small island of 1.836 ha and situated in the south of the Balearic Islands. Several field surveys and archaeological excavations have brought to the light the important human occupation of this place between the 5th and the 7th centuries AD. However, there are also some Roman materials that, despite their scarcity, show show the importance of the site materials. Among those, a fragment of honorific or funereal gravestone of the 1st or 2nd century AD centuries stands out. At the areas excavated so far, a salting (food-processing) area, a possible workshop for the production of purple and a necropolis have been identified.

In this work we present six fragments of objects made with white and coloured marbles that were found in this site thanks to the excavations undertaken within the project funded by the Town Council of Palma de Mallorca during the last 10 years in order to retrieve, consolidate and put into display the Bizantine monastery at Cabrera (Recuperació, consolidació i musealització del monestir bizantí de l’illa de Cabrera). Even though they clearly present traits and features belonging to the antique period, unfortunately they were found at superficial or modern contexts. Nevertheless, the data resulting from their petrographical analysis may bring some light to the network trade or contacts that the Roman settlement at this small might had through the provenancing of these marbles.



A PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF A LAVA ROTARY QUERN QUARRY IN CABO DE GATA, ALMERÍA, SPAIN

T. J. ANDERSON1 AND J.M. FERNÁNDEZ-SOLER2

1Doctoral Program History Department of the University of Pierre Mendès, Grenoble, France, Calle Tablón 22, 18140 Granada, Spain; [email protected]

2Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología, e Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (Universidad de Granada – CSIC) Av. Fuentenueva s/n. Granada 18071, Spain.

This paper presents a first typological and petrographical sketch of a rotary quern (handmill) quarry recently detected in the province of Almería, Spain. The site is perched on the plateau of the ‘Cerro de los Limones’ mountain overlooking the hamlet of Presillas Bajas to the East and the coastal town of San José to the South. Scores of rejected querns measuring approximately 40 cm in diameter are scattered among heaps of working debris. The important number of rejected roughouts, as well as the many samples decorating the alleys of the nearby town of Presillas Bajas, suggest a massive production. The proximity of the coast would facilitate maritime export. Although the date of the site has yet to be confirmed, the first typological indications suggest that it was exploited in Antiquity.

The quern makers exploited a reddish-brown rock in shallow pits from the summit of a large calc-alkaline dacitic lava dome. This body displays prominent columnar jointing. It is a hydrothermally altered dacite consisting of sub-mm crystals of altered plagioclase, abundant oxidized and biotite and hornblende, scarce quartz, and chloritized pyroxene phenocrysts, in a microcrystalline silicified groundmass, with low vesicularity. Available chemical data of samples of this dome show high SiO2 contents (~65%) and moderate K2O (~3%).

The discovery of this site confirms the long suspected Cabo de Gata volcanic outcrop in Spain’s southeastern corner as an important source of rotary querns. This site is a new addition to the complex chapter of quern production and trade throughout the Mediterranean Basin and beyond in Antiquity. We expect to locate in the near future other quern quarries in this region.



THE SANDSTONE QUARRIES OF CARTHAGO NOUA: PETROLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND MINING TECHNIQUES

J.A. ANTOLINOS1, R. ARANA2, J.M. NOGUERA1 AND B. SOLER1

1Dpt. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Medieval, Facultad de letras, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

2Departamento de Química Agrícola, Geología y Edafología, Universidad de Murcia, Murcia, Spain; [email protected].

The Roman sandstone quarries lie 4 km northeast of the ancient city of Carthago Noua, to the north of the present-day town of Canteras. The ancient and monumental character of the quarry faces has made them find a place among the Sites of Cultural Interest and raised them to the status of Historical Site. The earliest evidence of mining activity in the area dates back to the Barcid era, a period from which there are enough representative examples to warrant the importance of the volumes of stone mined throughout the twenty years of Punic domination. The building remains of the Roman era ratify the predominance of this sedimentary rock which, together with grey limestone, became the building material par excellence in the city. Its use has been documented by a wide array of techniques and equipment, as well as by the manufacture of a whole collection of architectural and ornamental elements, basically a result of its mining profitability – easy extraction and processing and hardly any transportation costs to the city. These qualities contributed to continued mining activity in the area until virtually the early 20th century. Intensive mining occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries as a result of important building activity for military and civil projects in the city. The sandstone was mined from an ‘open pit quarry’, in most cases without following the rock’s strata, along a series of terraces that gave rise to large vertical walls or ‘quarry faces’ over 20 metres in height. This paper examines the mineralogical characteristics of the rock, the documented quarrying techniques and the formal characterization of manufactures.



QUARRYING, USE AND SCOPE OF CABEZO GORDO AND RAMBLA DE TRUJILLO MARBLES (MURCIA, SPAIN) IN THE ROMAN ERA

R. ARANA1, J.A. ANTOLINOS2, B. SOLER2 AND J.M. NOGUERA2.


2Dpt. de Prehistoria, Arqueología e Historia Medieval, Facultad de letras, Universidad de Murcia. 30100 Murcia. [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

The mining of coloured ornamental stones of Hispanic origin is directly related to the development of the earliest monumental programmes on provincial soil and to the participation of cities in a luxury goods market. The city of Carthago Noua and its territory feature some of the earliest examples of the extraction and use of these local marmora, their use having been documented as early as the end of the 2nd century BC in the decoration of some household and functional environments. There are also epigraphic and architectural examples from pre-Augustan times, but the use of these marbles would become more widespread from the 1st century AD onwards. Among these materials are two white-grey varieties characterized by low grade regional metamorphism, greenschist facies and granoblastic texture, but of significantly diverse mineralogical composition. The study of the quarry faces and the formal analysis of items made with these materials has enabled us to make a diachronic study of the use of these rocks which, especially in the case of the Cabezo Gordo marble, played a very important role in the implementation of the main decorative programmes documented in the colony, especially as architectural manufactures, epigraphic supports and other decorative elements.



LATE ANTIQUE AND UMMAYAD QUARRIES FROM THE NEAR EAST

I. ARCE

Spanish Archaeological Mission to Jordan, Spanish Embassy. P.O. Box 454 11118 Amman Jordan; [email protected]

The aim of this paper is to present and analyze several examples of Late Antique and Umayyad Quarries from the Near East (mainly from present-day Jordan and Syria).

The optimization of resources in a land scarce of them like the Near East, led to crafty solutions when dealing with quarrying systems: Among them can be mentioned, the reduction of the distance between the building site and the quarry (in many cases just beside each other, facilitating their secondary use as cisterns); the improvement of quarrying systems; or the integration of the quarrying processes and their location, with the planning of water harvesting (planning in advance the ultimate use of these quarries as cisterns, intended as final destination of water gathered by systems of channel, qanats and /or deflection dams), demonstrating a remarkable territorial and resources management planning.

In many cases this ‘holistic planning ‘of quarrying, building and water supplying, is related as well to agricultural exploitations planned in advance as part of the same scheme.

These practices can be traced from Nabatean period, becoming standard procedures in late Antiquity. Several case-studies will be analyzed from this point of view. Among them, those from Qastal, Qasr Hallabat, Mushabbak, Umm al Jimal, Kastron Mefa’a/Umm ar-Rassas, Qatraneh, Qasr Burqu, Hawara/Humeyma, etc.



ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTS FROM QUARRIES LOS CASTILLEJOS AND COVACHOS (ALMADEN DE LA PLATA, SEVILLA). A COMPARATIVE STUDY

J. BELTRÁN FORTES2, E. ONTIVEROS1, O. RODRÍGUEZ2, M. I. CARRETERO AND P. LÓPEZ3

1Instituto Andaluz de Patrimonio Histórico, Sevilla, Spain; [email protected] 2Dpt. prehistoria y Arqueología, Fac. Geografía e Historia, Universidad de Sevilla, C/ María de

Padilla, s/n. 41002, Sevilla, Spain; [email protected], [email protected] 3Arqueólogo; [email protected]

The analysis of the activity remains from ancient quarries allows us a valuable opportunity to characterize the extraction techniques and the necessary features and properties of the stones to make them capable of being used as building and ornamental materials.

During recent surveys a group of semielaborated elements has been identified at the surroundings of the so-called area of Los Castillejos. This information has been increased by the new research and excavation at the quarry front of Los Covachos. This poster includes the results of the mineralogical, petrographic and chemical analyses made on samples not only from these abandoned pieces, but also collected in situ from different points of the ancient quarry front. With this information we try to present a comparative study from the components and individualized trace-elements to each one of the different stone varieties used in Roman times, in order to establish a firm starting point to the progressive characterization of these stones. Last but not least all these facts allow us to propose different hypothesis of reconstruction and characterization of the associated historical and socio-economical context.



ANCIENT USES OF THE BRECHE DES ROMAINS IN GAUL

A. BLANC AND PH. BLANC

UPMC (Paris, France) 10 rue de Monceau 75008 Paris, France; [email protected]

The antique quarry of the Roman breach (Breccia Romana) from Pyrenees, is located at ‘la Pène St Martin’ in the Lez village, near St-Béat, in the right bank of the river Garonne. We present the analytical properties to recognize this material.

It is a brecciated marble composed by angular elements of white marble, cemented by a yellow matrix, sometimes more or less grey, and recognized by thin pink veins.

The maximum grain size was determined in the angular elements like 3 mm, and also in the yellow matrix at 2 mm. In the same idea, two isotopic measurements were realized in the two component parts to enhance their differences.

Thin section was used for microscopic observations, and also for cathodoluminescence (CL): the calcitic crystals of the white marble elements have orange CL. The yellow matrix has a very different CL, blue CL locally impregnated by orange CL inside cleavages. The complex history of the formation of this rock explains the complicated cathodofacies.

This quarry was worked at Roman times, especially for revetment slabs or cornices. The diffusion is very large in Gaul, from Aquitaine to Paris, Meaux, Autun, and Périgueux.

In the Gallo-Roman site of Fâ, near Barzan (Charente-Maritime), slabs of roman breach are one side yellow colored and the other side pink colored. First, many peaces are identical, however it was not an accidental fire, but a treatment on one side to replace the famous ‘breccia corallina’ or marmor sagarium from Turquey. Only the slabs are bicolored, the cornices are entirely colored. The yellow matrix retains the white marble elements, enclose a diffused iron oxide Fe2O3, nH2O like limonite, then the thermo treatment changes in hematite Fe2O3, (red color), and give the delicate pink color into the matrix. The same phenomenon was observed in Périgueux (the roman city of Vesuna) in the ‘Tour de Vésone’.

The Roman craftsmen modify the material color, to save the price of carriage from a far-east quarry. Basic heating is sufficient to transform this stone from Pyrénées, in a stable soft pink decorative marble looking like ‘breccia corallina’.



QUARRY BLOCKS IN MARMOR IASSENSE FROM THE BALIK PAZARI AT IASOS (TURKEY)

M. BRUNO

Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected]

Close to the city of ancient Iasos (modern Kiyikişlacik) on the Mandalya Gulf on the west coast of Asia Minor, were the famous marble quarries of the Marmor Iassense, located on the slopes of the hills of Arigedige and Cirkinçe Tepe a few km east of the town. The marble known also as Cipollino rosso was widely used from the end of the II century A.D. mainly for small to medium column shafts and less for revetment slabs, which were, on the other hand, more common in Byzantine times. In that period large slabs were well appreciated in the furnishing of the wall and pavement decorations of Christian churches and buildings, and where mostly the veined waved quality was used beside other similar veined marbles as the karystian Cipollino and the proconnesian marble.

In the 70th of the last century a large roman mausoleum of the II century AD, known locally as Balik Pazari and situated a few hundred meters outside the ancient city walls of Iasos, was excavated by the Italian Archaeological Mission. In the area of the portico surrounding the square courtyard in the center of which is a funerary temple, a huge amount of more then hundred parallelepipedal iasian marble quarry blocks were discovered, attesting that in Byzantine times the building was used as marble yard of the items extracted in the still active local quarries. The blocks were afterwards moved outside the Balik Pazari, now housing the local Antiquarium, and stockpiled chaotically in area close by. About three years ago the Italian Archaeological Mission, directed by Fede Berti, decided to rearrange the display of these quarry blocks and the so the items were moved and systematically studied. About 114 quarry blocks were catalogued, many of them bearing quarry inscriptions and by half partially sawn up by ancient working activity for large size slab production.

The discovery of this huge amount of quarry blocks attest that the local quarry activity was still flourish and that an older funeral monument, certainly totally abandoned could be used not only for storing the Cipollino rosso marble blocks, but also as first working area of them.



NEW CIPOLLINO MARBLE QUARRIES SOUTH OF KARYSTOS AT CAPE MANDHILI (EVIA)

M. BRUNO1 AND M. VITTI2

1Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected] 2Sovraintendenza BB.CC. Comune di Roma, Via IV Novembre 94, 00187 Roma, Italy;

[email protected]

As known by previous studies, the quarries of karystian marble are located along the western coast of Evia from Stira, at the north, down to Karystos in the southern part of the island, where the last known district was that of Aetos not more then 2 km far from the city.

Nevertheless recent surveys at the southern Cape of Evia allowed to discover some 12 km south east from Karystos close to Cape Mandhili a new quarry area.

This district, located not far away from the coastline, extended over 200 meters up on the slopes of the Koukoubagies mountain and is well visible, due to the presence of two large quarry debris, which testify an intense quarry activity.

The quarry fronts are up to 4 meters high and have the typical stepped shape due to extraction working methods of parallelepipedal blocks, many of which are lying around in the quarry area, beside the transportation road to the sea and along the coast, close to the hypothetical loading point. The intensive quarry activity, attested also by a large number of temper basin for tools manufacture, concerned also the production of medium column shafts, as testified by seven items, and that of large rectangular basins.

The Marmor caristium district of southern Eubea is certainly one of the best known marble quarry districts of roman antiquity, because of its large extension and good visibility; previous studies by I. Papageorgakis, A. Lambraki and D. Vanhove seemed to have cleared up definitively the topographical aspect of the Cipollino quarries,

The discovery of the unknown Cape Mandhili quarries, could allow to add some new archaeological data to our knowledge about the Evia districts, which definitely extended much more to the south of the city of Karystos.



ANCIENT COLOURED MARBLES AND THEIR SURROGATES IN THE MILAN CATHEDRAL (LATE 16TH CENTURY)

R. BUGINI AND L. FOLLI

Istituto Conservazione e Valorizzazione Beni Culturali, via Cozzi 53, 20125 Milano, Italy; [email protected]

The decrees of Tridentine council (last session December 1563) achieved important changes in the liturgy and in the religious architecture. The Counter-Reformers made the church ceremonies more and more splendid reacting against the Protestant choice to unadorned ceremonies. The cardinal Carlo Borromeo published (Milan, 1572) the ‘Istructiones Fabricae et Supellectilis Ecclesiasticae’ encouraging the use of marbles in the altar construction. The search for new coloured marbles matching the ancient ones became urgent.

The importance of the ancient coloured marbles, used in the roman towns of Lombardy (Mediolanum, Cremona, Brixia etc), was testified by the reuse in the medieval churches (Milan, St Ambrogio, tenth century, with four shafts of red porphyry) and by the reproduction in many paintings (Milan, St Maurizio, 1529, Bernardino Luini’s frescoes). But since the 15th century the ancient marbles were almost unavailable and the altars were built with few stones (Milan, Cathedral high altar, early 15th century, Candoglia pink marble and Verona red limestone).

The case of the Milan Cathedral (Duomo) is very representative for the use of new coloured marbles. The cardinal Borromeo promoted a radical transformation involving, since 1571, the construction, of the presbytery and six new altars, three for each aisle. These altars were planned by Pellegrino Tibaldi, the architect of the cardinal Borromeo, with column shafts in turn of Macchiavecchia, a multicoloured breccia from Arzo (Ticino, Switzerland, close to the Italian border) and Grande antico d’Italia, a black limestone with irregular white veins from Varenna (lake Como). The first one has colour and structure alike to those of Portasanta (breccia, Greece), according to Scamozzi (‘L’idea’ 2-7-5, Venice 1615); the second one has colour alike to that of the Marmo d’Aquitania (breccia, France) and the structure lightly different. These new marbles became usual for the Milan church altars in the last decade of sixteenth century and later on. The sources of Tibaldi’s plan were probably the altar of Giovanni de’ Medici and the altar of Pius IV, both in the Duomo right transept. The first one was built by Leone Leoni (1564) using Macchiavecchia and Marmo d’Aquitania. The second one was built (1565) using Portasanta, Africano, Verde antico and Giallo antico. These ancient marbles were supplied directly from Rome by the pope Pius IV, according to Vasari (‘Le vite’, Vita di Lione Lioni, Florence 1568).



THE ANCIENT QUARRIES IN CROATIA: THE TECHNOLOGY OF EXTRACTING STONE

M. BUZOV

Institute of Archaeology, Ulica grada Vukovara 68, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia; [email protected]

The knowledge of quarring activity in ancient Dalmatia and Pannonia amounts to the larger economic and cultural centers of the provinces. From these we have learned of the highly developed construction and artistic techniques used at that time.

We should especially emphasize the quarries on island of Brač which provided the building stone for the construction of Diocletian's palace in Split.

Irrespective of the time and expensive influence of the well-known quarry centers, there existed without a doubt a whole series of smaller quarries from which stone for local building needs in the small regional and provincial areas was quarried. In this contribution I will try to reconsider from various points of view the ancient quarries in Croatia.

In a certain manner, these quarries brought Romanization and Urbanisation to the areas, to the building sites as well as to the stonemason's workshop and to art in general. Such quarries were discovered and explored in the village of Prozor not far from Otočac in the Gacko field, nearby the city of Karlovac (25 quarries) and nearby the city of Sisak (Roman Siscia). The well-known ancient quarry was at Prozor.

The ancient quarry at Prozor is located in the northeastern foothills of the pre-historic hill-forts of Veliki and Mali Vital, not far from the area in which the remains of the ancient settlement of Prozor (Roman Arupium) were unerathed. The entire quarry is cut from live rock and belongs to the type of surface quarry.

Taken from this quarry were limestone blocks which today point to the step-like appearance of the remaining walls. The Prozor quarry has most probably not been exhausted; namely, a good part of the stone was has not been cut.

Although no type of stone cutting tool was found at the quarry, we presume (on the basis of the markings left in the stones) that this was a particular tool for this purpose in use at that time.

On the basis of archaeological finds and the traces of layering at the Prozor quarry, stone was probably cut sometime near the end of the first and the beginning of the second century AD. It has been positively determined by use of recent soundings that rock from the Prozor quarry was used for construction and other purposes at the nearby Roman settlement of Arrupium. We think that the stone from this quarry was used exclusively for construction purposes, although the possibility has not been ruled out for the existence of some stonemason's workshops in the vicinity which would have turned out the final stone products. The many stone monuments fashioned from the same type of stone found in the area support this hypothesis. The adaptability of this stone is not confirmed by these finds alone. Even to this day the inhabitants of Prozor are still using this local rock as the source for their building stone.



DECAY OF HISTORIC LIMESTONE AND ITS CONSERVATION TREATMENTS WITH NANODISPERSIVE CA(OH)2 SOLUTIONS

E. CANER-ÖZLER1 AND E. N. CANER-SALTIK2

1PhD Candidate, Materials Conservation Lab., Faculty of Arch., METU, 06531 Ankara Turkey; [email protected]

2Prof. Dr.,Materials Conservation Lab., Faculty of Arch. METU, 06531, Ankara Turkey; [email protected]

The aim of this study was to explain the development of limestone decay mainly as fragmental disintegration through some karstic veins of micritic calcite structure and its control by treatments with nanodispersive Ca(OH)2 solutions. Treatments were supposed to control the process of fragmental disintegration and improve decayed microstructure of limestone by forming calcite infill that is compatible with the non-treated parts.

Experiments were done on the limestone samples from Nemrut Dag Monument, on the samples taken from the geological formations that showed similar deterioration with the Nemrut Dag Monument’s limestones. Experiments were also done on limestone cubes artificially deteriorated by cyclic salt crystallization tests. The decayed limestones were examined by the analyses of the changes in their physico-mechanical and microstructural properties. Physico-mechanical changes were followed by bulk density, effective porosity, and ultrasonic velocity measurements. Microstructural changes of deteriorated limestone were analyzed by examination of cross sections with SEM-EDX analyses, analyses of thin sections with optical microscopy and examination of powdered samples with XRD and FTIR analyses. Distribution of biological activity was determined by qualitative and spectrophotometric analyses using FDA solutions. Distribution of clay minerals in the microstructure was detected by qualitative and quantitative analyses using methylene blue solution.

After the conservation treatments with nanodispersive Ca(OH)2 solutions the depth of penetration was followed in thin sections using calcein indicator which is fluorescent under ultraviolet light. Newly formed calcite infill was examined by SEM-EDX analyses. The decrease in biological and clay minerals activity were also evaluated. The changes in physico-mechanical properties were followed.

It was observed that micritic limestone decayed through some karstic veins closely related with biologically active and clay containing zones in the form of fragmental disintegration. Nanodispersive Ca(OH)2 solutions have well penetrated into the deteriorated microstructure of limestone and partially filled the pore structure. It was concluded that fragmental disintegration could be efficiently controlled through the control of biological and clay mineral activity during the formation of micritic calcite infill. Increase in ultrasonic velocities of the samples were observed after the treatments with nanodispersive Ca(OH)2 solutions.



DEVELOPMENT OF MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES FOR FOUR ANCIENT QUARRIES IN TURKEY

E.N. CANER-SALTIK1, T. TOPAL2, V. TOPRAK2, A. TÜRKMENOGLU2, A. TAVUKCUOGLU3, K. G. AKOGLU3, E. CANER-ÖZLER3 AND T. YASAR4

1METU Faculty of Arch., Materials Conservation Lab., 06531, Ankara, Turkey; [email protected], [email protected]

2METU Dept. of Geological Eng., 06531, Ankara, Turkey; [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected]

3METU Faculty of Architecture, Materials Conservation Lab., 06531 Ankara Turkey; [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected]

4MTA, Dept. of Mine Analyses Technology; [email protected]

Four ancient quarries, namely Roman andesite quarries in Ankara, 13th century tuff quarries in Saratlı village - Aksaray, Hittite limestone quarries near Ortaköy township – Çorum, and Roman marble quarry near Ballıhisar village–Sivrihisar, Eskişehir were studied for enquiring data in order to initiate management strategies for those sites. Each quarry presented different conservation problems; therefore, their management strategies would be designed accordingly. All those quarries needed to be registered as historic monuments as a first step of their conservation.

Geological location maps, digital elevation models of the quarries and visual characteristics of each ancient quarry and the verification of the quarries’ relationship with the monuments and archaeological sites were compiled to help with the development of the management strategies.

Important issues of management plan for the quarries were summarized by considering their individual cultural and historic significance, their existing conservation problems, their links to the archaeological sites and modern settlements.

Management plan for ancient quarries were proposed to emphasize the integration of the quarry with the conservation planning of the archaeological sites together with the local settlements which ensure the participation of the local communities, municipalities and other stakeholders including governmental organizations of cultural heritage. The management plan should provide the sustainable development of the sites regarding their individual historic values as well as their potentials for scientific, cultural, educational, economical and tourism values.



ON THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE STONECUTTERS, THE ARCHITECTS AND THE PAINTERS OF THE ROYAL TOMB WITH CARYATIDS AT THE CETIC

CAPITAL HELIS

M. CHICHIKOVA1 AND D. STOYANOVA2

1National Institute of Archaeology with Museum – Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 2 Saborna Str. Sofia 1000, Bulgaria; [email protected]

2Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, Faculty of History, Department of Archaeology

Bul. Tzar Osvoboditel 15, Sofia 1504, Bulgaria; [email protected]

In spite of the numerous and impressive discoveries in recent years, the Tomb with Caryatids, discovered more than 25 years ago at the Getic capital Helis (near the village of Sveshtari in Northeastern Bulgaria), remains one of the most significant monuments of the Hellenistic architecture in Thrace. This is due to its perfect state of preservation, as well as to the outstanding combination of building materials and techniques, layout, constructions, orders, sculpted and painted decoration – a combination that illustrates the leading trends in the Hellenistic architecture.

The tomb was built of limestone blocks and consists of three chambers – each one covered with its own barrel-wedged vault – and an uncovered dromos. Both isodomic and pseudo-isodomic techniques were used. In the burial chamber, the aedicula, and the doorframes of the other two chambers, elements of the Doric, Ionic and Corinthian orders were used, as well as sculpted female figures (Caryatids). In addition, on the lunette of the vault of the burial chamber, a scene was painted directly on the masonry.

The tomb has also provided material evidence of the work of the ancient stonecutters, architects and painters. Among them, there are tools – a lead plumb, a template for profiles, mortars and pestle – as well as a layout of the burial chamber’s vault, outlined with red paint.

The tools were discovered during the removal of the embankment of the tumulus, in immediate proximity to the tomb, at the level of the ancient terrain or on top of the layers that were formed during the cutting of the blocks. They bear witness to various stages of the builders’ work.

Most impressive is the layout of the barrel vault of the burial chamber, painted in full size on one of its external walls. It depicts half of the wedges that form the vault. Such drawings are rarely found on ancient architectural monuments and the one on the royal Tomb with Caryatids was a very important discovery.

The tools that were used for cutting the blocks and carving the sculptures provide additional data for the work of the workshop that constructed the tomb. One could attribute to its activity three other barrel-vaulted tombs, discovered in the Eastern Necropolis of the Getic capital Helis.



INFLUENCE OF MESOFABRIC ON WATER TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF CONTINENTAL LIMESTONES

N. CUETO1 2, D. BENAVENTE1 2, J. MARTÍNEZ-MARTÍNEZ 1 2 AND M.A. GARCÍA-DEL-CURA2 3

1Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y del Medio Ambiente. Universidad de Alicante. Ap. 99., 03080, Alicante, Spain.

2Labortorio de Petrología Aplicada. Unidad Asociada CSIC-UA, Spain;[email protected] 3Instº de Geología Económica. CSIC-UCM, Spain; [email protected]

The influence of mesofabric or sedimentary structures on water transport properties (WTP) was assessed in Spanish coloured travertines from the Betic Zone (Red Alhama and Golden Travertine from Albox), in a white Turkey travertine and in Colmenar Stone. As regards the first two types of stone, their petrological and petrographic characteristics are described in detail by García-del-Cura et al. in this congress. The latter stone is a white biogenic lacustrine limestone largely used in the cultural heritage of Madrid, in sculptures and buildings.

The open porosity, Ø, shows a good linear correlation with permeability coefficient, k, obtained using the steady-stay flow methods. The fabric or facies strongly influences porosity and WTP behaviour (permeability and capillary absorption coefficient, C) of continental carbonate rocks. Thus, the massive facies registered the lowest physical property values, for example, in the Colmenar Stone, Ø=3.47±1.21 %, C=1.69±0.15 g/(m2•s0.5) and k=0.001 mD, whilst homogeneous porous tufa facies showed the highest values Ø=33.55±7.61 %, C=183.42±80.77 g/(m2•s0.5) and k=>500 mD.

In travertine facies, WTP are highly conditioned by sedimentary structures (parallel bedding of limestone). C and k coefficients are much higher in the direction parallel to the bedding, increasing the anisotropy. For example, the WTP results of laminated Golden travertine in the parallel direction were: C=7.53±3.19 g/(m2•s0.5); k=0.005-1.344 mD, whilst in the perpendicular direction, they were: C=3.77 ± 1.36 g/(m2•s0.5); k=0.003-0.071 mD. This may lead to weathering processes related WTP in the parallel direction as well as to reduced mechanical resistance. Cryptolaminated facies show lower C and k values than laminated facies, due to the varying limits between adjacent beddings and, consequently, to the low associated open porosity.

Additionally, two particularly important aspects were revealed in this research. On the one hand, WTP do not obey sedimentary structure directionality in either laminated facies with fenestral porosity perpendicular to the bedding, for example in the specific case of Albox, or cryptolaminated facies with fenestral porosity placed as parallel tubes, e.g. Alhama. Thus, water distribution is greatly influenced by the orientation of porosity, increasing in a parallel direction and providing the rocks with anisotropic water distribution on both saturated (permeability) and unsaturated media (capillarity).

Finally, the WTP behaviour of homogeneous porous tufa facies is also restricted by the spatial distribution of framework porosity. The influence of fabric porosity on WTP behaviour may also be significant in diminishing the stone’s mechanical properties in the most absorbing directions before the weathering processes.

Acknowledgements: This study was financed by the Spanish Government (MEC Project CGL2006-05027/BTE) and the Community of Madrid (Project S0505-MAT/000094 MATERNAS).



THE USE OF TRAVERTINE COVERED WITH STUCCO IN THE TEMPLE OF APOLLO SOSIANO IN THE CIRCUS FLAMINIUS IN ROME

M. DE NUCCIO

Sovraintendenza ai Beni Culturali. Comune di Roma, Italy; [email protected]

The new building and decorative program of Augustus, started after the battle of Actium in 31 BC, was carried out with an organic project that involved the southern portion of the Circus Flaminius, in particular, the newly built Theatre of Marcellus and the reconstruction of the two temples of Apollo and Bellona.

The excavations of the area in the 1930's brought to light the structures of the temple of Apollo and made evident the importance of the construction site of the aedes Apollinis in the definition of a new roman architectonic language.

The temple of Apollo, dedicated in 433 BC to Apollo Medicus, was completely rebuilt in the Augustan age, and the role of the Emperor in this reconstruction seems to have been decisive. The new temple, built between 35 and 24 BC, was pseudo-peripteral on a high podium, pycnostyle, exastyle, and on the long sides, had ten columns, semi-columns or ¾ columns.

It is generally accepted that the building materials for the temple were of Luna marble for the columns of the pronaos, and travertine and brick covered with stucco for the semi-columns and the ¾ columns on the long sides.

However, the recent identification of two fluted semi-columns in travertine covered with stucco with the same dimensions as the Luna marble columns, pointed out the exclusive use of Luna marble along with travertine covered with stucco during the Augustan age, as confirmed by the nearby temple of Bellona, located next to the temple of Apollo, and dated two decades later.



ANCIENT MARBLES IN FLORENCE IN 16TH CENTURY: THE GADDI AND NICCOLINI NOBEL CHAPELS

M. DELLI SANTI

Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage - National Research Council (CNR-IBAM) - Area di Ricerca di Potenza - C.da S. Loja – 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy; [email protected]

Towards the middle of 16th century the custom to ‘commettere’ (to put together) developed. So the figure of ‘commesso’ was born, that is the patient work of the cutting and the juxtaposition of stone segments to create geometric and figures pictures only by using of marble colours.

It’s difficult to establish why this change happened and led to a generalized use of ‘commesso’ and marble tarsia, but this process is clearly evident in the analysis of works, especially in the noble chapels of Roman churches. In this essay we are going to analyse just those, and, in particularly, in Florence environment, the Gaddi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella and the Niccolini one in Santa Croce. We are going to treating the specification of utilized marbles and then Roman archaeological quarries that were despoiled to adorn the Chapels.

The designer of both works of art is Giovanni Antonio Dosio, an architect from Florence, who, when he was fifteen, moved to Rome, where he began his career as goldsmith before and then as architect and inlayer of marbles.

Although the Gaddi Chapel in Santa Maria Novella was made in Florence, it is, for its style and also for the marbles that there were utilized (porfido, africano, portasanta), a real example of an ‘commesso’ in Roman style. Indeed, the Chapel was made in 1575-78, when Dosio had just came back to Florence after his long stay in Rome.

For the Niccolini Chapel in Santa Croce, instead, the architect returned to the double-coloured ‘white-pietra serena’ of Medici tombs and the Laurentian stairs.

If we examine the florentine chapels, we can observe that Dosio was inclined to using of some ancient marbles that are more precious, like the africano and the portasanta. These marbles were especially utilized in the ‘preferred’ places of the chapels. It was not a chance that the africano was utilized for the sarcophagi of the two works and the portasanta was utilized in the altars.

Besides the cataloguing of stone materials, we could also get information, by consulting primary sources, about the locations of archaeological Roman quarries that were in use for supplying ancient marbles. In fact, by the analysis of the correspondence, that is in Niccolini Archive in Florence, between who commissioned the work and the architect Dosio, we find that the broccatelli, the brecce and the verde antico, which are in Family’s Chapel in Santa Croce, come from Villa Adriana in Tivoli and others marbles come from the excavations of Ostia and from Tito’s Thermae in Rome.



ACCESS TO ASHLAR AS A SYMBOLIC RESOURCE IN NEOPALATIAL CRETE (1700-1450 A.C.N.)

M. DEVOLDER

PhD Candidate, UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Aspirante du Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS Belgium) FLTR/ARKE, Collège Erasme, 1, Place Blaise Pascal, 348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; [email protected]

This paper investigates the possible specialization behind the production of ashlar walls, and the modes of access to this item of conspicuous consumption. Elite Neopalatial structures in Bronze Age Crete have indicated the recurrent link between stone masonry and the formal elaboration of the building concept, suggesting that ashlar extraction and construction are specialized activities. Quantification (in man-hours) of the energy invested in those same elite structures has suggested a labour pool separate to the sole residents or users of the buildings, which supports the previous assumption, as long as this labour pool, or at least part of it, was skilled. It would seem that ashlar masonry was not part of the common knowledge of Minoan architecture transmitted from generation to generation but the result of skilled craftsmen. This is contrary to most of the architectural production on the island between 1700 and 1450 a.C.n., which is almost universally accepted as being carried out by the building’s inhabitants, possibly helped by kin, and of which simple forms and traditional techniques were transmitted through practice to the whole population. Access to ashlar specialists may well have been submitted to the rules of a ‘market’ economy, implying no severe control through regulation by a restricted elite group of the material means of status negotiation. The modes of access to such a strong symbolic expression of social status are explored here.



QUARRIES, PRODUCTION SITES OF ROMAN SARCOPHAGI AND STONE URNS IN THE SOUTHERN BORDER PART OF THE PROVINCE OF PANNONIA

SUPERIOR

M.A. DOMAGOJ PERKIĆ

Ministry of Culture, Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, C. Zuzoric 6, 200000 Dubrovnik, Croatia; [email protected]

The paper discusses the material from central Croatia, that is from the area between the central and lower flows of the rivers Korana and Mrežnica, which join the Kupa river in Karlovac. In Roman times, when these quarries were used, the region belonged to the southern border part of the province of Pannonia Superior. It is a karstic area, which belongs to the shallow karst of the inner belt of the Croatian Dinaric karst. The quarries location becomes clearer when we consider the vicinity of the rivers Korana, Mrežnica and Kupa, and the nearby natural communication that serves as a corridor between the Croatian westernmost part of the Pannonian Plain and the coastal region. An excellent organisation of work must have been in place to unite such a large area into an integrated production complex. The area in question covers a surface of 10 x 20 kilometres and includes 50 sites presented in the paper. 29 out of these 50 sites are quarries, while the rest are sarcophagi and stone urns used as spolia (both in sacral and secular buildings) and various individual finds. The fact that some of the individual finds were discovered in rivers suggests that finished sarcophagi were transported by rivers. 29 sites of individual smaller quarries can be divided into 11 groups of sites that form larger units, but all of these are part of an integrated production complex. Sarcophagi were probably not the only product of these quarries, because we also found some 60 stone urns, but only 4 of them were in the quarries. The other stone urns were discovered as individual finds and spolia. The stone urns found in the quarries or out of them are very important, especially for dating of the quarries in the period between the 1st and the 3rd century BC. All sarcophagi and stone urns from the quarries mentioned here were made of local limestone. A common feature of all sarcophagi, those found in the quarries as well as those found as spolia in different buildings, is that they are dressed rather roughly (partially due to the local limestone used as raw material), with rare inscriptions only found on several stone urns, and without any relieves. All lids, regardless of their size, are of a saddle-roof shape with acroteria in their corners.



ANCIENT STONE QUARRIES ON THE EASTERN ADRIATIC COAST EMPHASISING BRAČ STONE QUARRIES

I. DONELLI

Arts Academy University of Split, Glagoljaška bb, Split, Croatia; [email protected]

During conservation-restoration process on antic monuments a need to reconstruct eventually evolves on some of the assembling elements. Those assembling elements are made of stone originated from ancient stone quarries that are well known nowadays thanks to the written evidence. Studying these quarries is essential when replacement of a damaged stone is required in a reconstructive process. The problem we need to resolve is; of which stone type the original element is made of and which other one could be its rightful replacement. On the Eastern Adriatic coast, where the Roman colonies (Pula, Salona, Narona) were situated, we come across antic monuments built of local stone. The stone was quarried all along the eastern Adriatic coast, on the land as well as on the islands, from Istra until Dubrovnik.

In order to improve and simplify the process of searching the adequate stone type for possible reconstructions, we have collected stone samples and relevant data from all ancient stone quarries on Adriatic coast. In such case, stone quarries on island of Brač have been priority because famous Diocletian palace in Split, currently in a conservation-restoration process, was mostly built of stone from Brač.

The result of this research is collecting and classifying the data of the autochthonic stone and ancient stone quarries as well as creating a stone database. This database is crucial in a reconstructive process because it enables quick and easy search of original stone type or its adequate replacement.



THE STONE OF SIDI GHEDAMSY ISLAND QUARRIES (MONASTIR, TUNISIA): FROM EXTRACTION TO ITS USE IN BUILDING

M. EL GAIED, A. YOUNÈS AND W. GALLALA

Faculté des Sciences Humaines et Sociales de Tunis, 94 boulevard 9 Avril 1938. Tunis, Tunisia; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Sidi Ghedamsy Island, situated on the northern flank of Monastir Peninsula, is mainly constituted with marine Pliocene deposits. On this island, four quarries have been identified and have been registered on general works concerning the littoral or quarries in eastern Byzacium. Yet, several points are worth being studied: the location of the quarries on the island and the techniques of blocks extraction; the geological features of the stone and its qualities for building; the use of blocks in monuments and the dating of the quarries exploitation.

Thus, lithological sections as well as petrographic and mineralogical analyses have been carried out on blocks extracted from exploited levels of the quarries. Moreover, a survey has been led on the region of Monastir in order to make an inventory of the monuments built with the blocks extracted from the island quarries. A comparative study has also been made between the sizes of the blocks employed in the monuments, and the sizes of the traces of cut and pre cut blocks left on quarry faces.

Interesting conclusions resulted from this study such as the connection between the location of the quarries and the good quality stone, the technique of blocks extraction, and the dating of the quarries exploitation on the island.



THE IMITATION OF MARMORA IN ROMAN WALL PAINTINGS IN HISPANIA

A. FERNÁNDEZ DIAZ1 AND V. GARCÍA-ENTERO2

1Profesora Contratada Doctor del área de Arqueología de la Universidad de Murcia, C/ Santo Cristo, nº 1, Facultad de Letras del Campus de la Merced 30001 Murcia, Spain; [email protected]

2Profesora Ayudante Doctor de Hª. Antigua de la UNED e Investigadora del ICAC, Facultad de Geografía e Historia; C/ Senda del Rey s/n, 5, 525, Madrid 28080, Spain; [email protected]

The use of marmor and mural painting as wall revetment has been a documented phenomenon where the Roman culture reached. Moreover, both techniques have been clearly interrelated, since marmora were imitated in painting even prior to being used as revetment of building elevations, both of public and private nature. This type of representation in mural painting arises, in a way, as a need for representing something that is difficult to obtain without economic means. It points without question to the great significance of both techniques in the Roman world, providing at the same time practical and decorative functions.

Our goal with this work is to offer a vision as complete as possible of a subject that has been secondarily dealt with in the Spanish historiography, considering it one more element in the interpretation of a decorative-ornamental set. Thus, we will continue the research line followed in the late 70s by French researchers such as H. Eristov. His study on the imitation of marble in paintings of the most important Campania cities will serve us as a reference. In Spain, only L. Abad and C. Guiral, A. Mostalac and M. Cisneros have so far conducted studies on this matter. This scarcity of publications, together with the large number of findings, makes it necessary for a monographic study on this subject, in which not only should we compare the resemblance to one or other type of marble, but we should go much further and seek a possible meaning for its representation.

As a final result, we will verify how from the end of the II century AD, until the century IV AD, there are numerous examples of mural painting on which various techniques and schemes are used, many displaying marmor representation. However, determining which representations imitate real marbles and which use those techniques and schemes simply as an ornamental resource, is also the goal of this work.



ON SITE AND LABORATORY INVESTIGATION ON THE 16TH - 17TH CENTURY MASONRIES: THE WESTERN SARDINIAN COAST DEFENSIVE TOWERS

D. FIORINO1, C. GABARINO2, C. GIANNATTASIO3 AND S. M. GRILLO4

1Via Ichnusa, 12, 09045 Quartu Sant'Elena, Italy; [email protected] 2Faculty of Engineering - Department of Geoengineering and Environmental Technologies - Piazza

d’Armi, 16 - 09123 Cagliari, Italy; [email protected]. 3Faculty of Architecture - Department of Architecture - Via Corte d’Appello, 87 - 09124 Cagliari,

Italy; [email protected]. 4Faculty of Engineering - Department of Geoengineering and Environmental Technologies - Piazza

d’Armi, 16 - 09123 Cagliari, Italy; [email protected].

This study is part of an ongoing research aimed to examine a number of important defence towers situated along the western Sardinian coast, Italy. These towers form part of the historic coastal defence system dating between the beginning of the 16th and end of the 17th century. These series of fortifications, rich in their historical and architectural quality, were constructed due to the social need for defence. Unfortunately, they are suffering from rapid deterioration of their stone fabric as a result of disuse and abandonment since the 19th century when the towers lost their defence purpose. In this paper we present the investigations of the coastal towers on the shoreline between Bosa and Santa Caterina di Pittinuri. They have been studied through the analysis of masonries (ashlars and mortar) by an historical, architectural, technical and petrographical-chemical point of view, through a methodology based on a stratigraphical approach. Specifically, the ashlar blocks used for the construction of the defence towers generally originate from formations of Tertiary calcalkaline volcanic rocks, Miocene carbonatic formations and Quaternary ‘Panchina Tirreniana’ cropping out in the western part of the island. The towers from Bosa to Punta De Foghe are built mainly from volcanic ashlars and lime mortar while further south the fortifications were made mainly of sedimentary rocks.

These masonry samples and ashlars have been studied by mineralogical-petrographic methods with instrumental techniques for the analysis of component materials (OM, X-Ray diffraction, EPMA), and by wet chemical analysis for the quantitative determination of the binder/aggregate ratio. In fact, the binder/aggregate ratio has a great influence on the physico-mechanical properties of the mortar itself. Technical and morphologic information of the samples analyzed are included into a specific database. It represents a wide digital archive of local techniques and an important instrument for investigating the relationships among different traditional masonries (materials, age, way of conservation…). The aim of this research is the understanding of the traditional building techniques used during the above mentioned centuries, combining dating strategies, with three different principal objectives:

to define the peculiarities of the traditional building techniques used during this period;

to increase the knowledge of the constructions and their degradation phenomena to warranty proper restoration;

to facilitate, on the basis of acquired data, the dating of other contemporary edifices, especially referring to the so-called ‘minor’ buildings, which are very often object of improper restoration.



PETROGRAHIC FEATURES AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF CERTAIN TRAVERTINE BUILDING STONES

M.A. GARCÍA-DEL-CURA1 2, D. BENAVENTE2 3, J. MARTÍNEZ-MARTÍNEZ2 3 AND N. CUETO2 3

1Instituto de Geologia Económica. CSIC-UCM, Spain; [email protected] 2Laboratorio de Petrologia Aplicada. Unidad Asociada CSIC-UA, Spain.

3Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y del Medio Ambiente, Universidad de Alicante AP. 99.03080 Alicante, Spain.

Travertine stone is widely used in the cultural heritage, mainly throughout the Mediterranean area. In this paper, we have studied two varieties of Spanish coloured travertines from the Betic Zone, marketed as Red Alhama (from Alhama de Almería) and Golden Travertine (from Albox, Almería province); a grey limestone with tufa facies used in the city of Velencia’s architectural heritage (Godella stone); and a white Turkey travertine, which is largely marketed as Classic Travertine and is commonly imported by Levantina S.A.

Several physical properties of travertines are characterised and linked to their fabric: dry bulk density, open porosity (P) and capillary absorption coefficient. Determination of strength was performed using dry uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and ultrasonic tests. The ultrasonic transmission method was used to obtain compressional (vP) and shear waves (vS) as well as the anisotropy coefficient.

The travertines studied are mainly composed of calcite (>95%) and show several petrographic facies, which can be classified as travertine and tufa. Travertine is formed by parallel layers of limestone (bedding) and several different facies or fabrics are distinguished: porous, massive, laminated and cryptolaminated. Tufa or tufaceous limestones show homogeneous porous tufa facies and complex tufa facies with stromatolitic structures. Thus, the Red Alhama travertine studied presents mainly laminated and cryptolaminated facies (P =5 .48±0.43%), as well as homogeneous porous tufa facies (P = 31.72±3.03%). The Golden Travertine studied mainly presents porous travertine facies (P = 11.82±4.05%); the studied Godella stone shows complex tufa facies (P = 29.89±3.69%); Meanwhile in the White Turkey travertine massive facies (P = 6.79±0.05%) predominate.

The petrophysical properties of the travertines depend greatly on their facies. Thus, low-porous or massive travertines showed the highest mechanical resistance, for example, in the White Turkey travertine, UCS = 41.89±9.90 MPa, vp = 4946.34±211.49 m/s and vs= 2851.13±76.17 m/s, measured in the perpendicularly to sedimentary structures, whilst the high-porous tufa facies were the least resistant, for example, in the Godella Stone, UCS = 15.97±5.74 MPa, vp = 4390.21±0.32 m/s and vs = 2395.01±272.12 m/s. The laminated facies reveal the most anisotropic behavior, which is clearly displayed in the capillary and mechanical properties.

Moreover, it is important to highlight the low influence of sedimentary structures on the mechanical properties (strength and ultrasonic velocity), either parallel or perpendicular to bedding and/or lamination on the unweathered stone. This fact corroborates the good performance of travertine as a dimensional stone.

Acknowledgements: This study was financed by the Spanish Government (MEC Project CGL2006-05027/BTE).



PETROGRAPHIC STUDY OF THE TUMULAR CIST WITH CARVED STELES OF REGUERS DE SERÓ (ARTESA DE SEGRE, LLEIDA, CATALONIA)

M. GARCÍA-VALLES1, M. AULINAS JUNCÀ2, J.B. LÓPEZ MELCIÓN3 AND A. MOYA GARRA3

1Departament de Cristal·lografia, Mineralogia i Dip. Minerals, Facultat de Geologia. Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Martí i Franquès, s/n 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

2Departament de Geoquímica, Petrología i Prospecció Geològica, Facultat de Geologia. Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Martí i Franquès, s/n 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

3Departament d’Història, Grup de Investigació Prehistòrica, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat de Lleida. Pl. Víctor Siurana, 1.25003 Lleida, Spain; [email protected]

The tumular cist of Reguers de Seró is an interesting archaeological site on the knowledge of the peninsular and European megalithic art. During the first half of the third millennium cal. ANE., it was used as a megalithic tomb. This chronology is confirmed by the cultural elements observed in the outcropping (bell-shape ceramics, ‘V’ drilling button, arrow and peduncles, etc) as well as by C14 dating.

The exceptionality of this megalith is the presence of carved steles which provenance is related to a previous Neolithic monument. Moreover, the ichnographic motifs observed on the steles (e.g. schematic representations of clothing) allow suggesting the existence of a specific cultural group in the zone of Artesa de Segre (located in the Pre-Pyrenees). This cultural group has been recently rediscovered in the Solsonès region. It has also been evidenced that this cultural identity has not any similar referent in the Iberian Peninsula or in the rest of Europe.

The aim of this work is to characterize from a petrographic point of view the different carved gravestones in the tumular cist or in the cromlech. Furthermore, the provenance of the rock material from which the gravestones were constructed has also been investigated. The results evidence that such gravestones show and acceptable degree of conservation and are mainly formed by massive clast-supported calcarenite. The raw material has been classified as a well-cemented carbonated sandstone mainly formed by angular to sub-angular monocrystalline quartz, rock fragments with different degrees of roundedness, phyllosilicates (muscovite), opaque minerals (iron oxides) and calcite. In fact, calcite is the main mineral phase occurring as clasts, groundmass and cement. There are no significant differences between the diverse studied samples. Just some grain size distinctions have been detected.

From the geological study of the area, it has been related the studied calcarenites to the Molassa de Solsona Formation (Oligocene) located in the Depressió Central Catalana in the Ponts-Calaf anticline.

The homogeneity of the gravestones samples as well as of the outcropping allows affirming that the source in which the rocks were extracted could also be the place in which the gravestones were cut and reworked. It can also be hypothesized that this cultural group knew the main properties of the materials of the zone as they selected the most consistent, easy to engrave, and durable material to construct these steles.



EBRO FINAL LITHIC MATERIALS EXPLOITATION: EXTRACTION WORKS, APPLICATIONS AND CHRONOLOGY

M. GENERA1 AND A. ÁLVAREZ2

1Departament de Cultura i Mitjans de Comunicació, Generalitat de Catalunya SEDPGYM, Spain; [email protected]


As a result of the roman funerary ‘estela’ exceptional discovery, part of a wine press, and a big jasper block, we thought about the study of the quarries Ebro river final course.

The aim is study all these exploitations, trying to have the stock list of all of them, identify possible work during antique period and know with high precision the applications of the extracted material.

On the whole, the situation and characteristic of the different deposits help a lot to its exploitation. Besides, the fact to being next to the Ebro River makes its transportation cheaper. In the case of the jasper, its maritime exportation was helped by the proximity to the Tortosa port.



PROSPECTING ALABASTER QUARRIES WITH ELECTRIC IMAGING

A. GUINEA, E. PLAYÀ, LL. RIVERO AND M. HIMI

Departament de Geoquímica, Petrologia i Prospecció Geològica, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, C/ Martí i Franqués, s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected], [email protected],


In the developing of new alabaster quarries, quality, morphology and thickness of these deposits must be considered; perforation by means of mechanical boreholes provides information about these parameters. Nevertheless, this exploration methodology is expensive and offers one-dimensional information. In the present study, the use of electric prospecting is proposed as an optional technique both during the preliminary prospections and in the quarrel front while exploitations are in progress. The advantages of this technique are: very cheap comparatively, quick, non-destructive and provides two-dimensional profiles.

The gypsum formations (mainly with alabastrine textures) of the Sarral area (Montblanc, Tarragona, NE Spain) were exploited for ornamental purposes probably since the Roman epoch; new quarries were opened in the second half of the 19th century for industrial interest. The extraction of the alabaster in this area, which finished in the middle of the 20th century, is well documented since the Middle Age and provided the sculptors of each time an excellent material to create crafts that remain on our historical patrimony.

The apparent resistivities of gypsum rocks (alabaster) were measured in clay terrains overlaying alabastrine deposits close to some quarries in the Sarral area. The terrain was also drilled (15 meter-depth continuous borehole) in order to compare with the performed tomographyc profiles. Obtained data evidenced a direct correlation between the drilled lithological units (clay and gypsum) and the resistivity profiles of these rocks. The boundary between the pure (alabaster) and the dirty gypsum (enclosing up to 25 % of accompanying material, such as carbonates, chert and clays) was also identified. Thus, it is evidenced that the electric imaging is an useful technique in prospection of gypsum units, permitting an estimation of the exploitable rock volume and the purity of the rock and considering that the purity is an extremely important parameter in the availability of the gypsum for ornamental use.



THE USE OF LOCAL STONE IN COLONIA PATRICIA CORDUBA, SPAIN

M. I. GUTIÉRREZ DEZA

C/ Escañuela, 16, 2º1, 14002, Córdoba, Spain; [email protected]

During the early years of the republican city it is observed a generalized use of limestone and sandstone, local stone easy to work, but very exposed to corrosion, covered by stucco; that served both to protect it from deterioration by inclement weather, such as to implement a polychromy to provide a greater range of colors to the building. This forced to work on a rough surface of the stone because it ensures a better grip of the plaster.

After the Civil Wars, it was an important monuments construction process in which began the use of a new material from local sources, mudstone from Linares-Pedroches cambrian formation popularly known as Stone of Mina, of which there are three variants: violet, black and gray. This stone could be polished stone and was more resistant to corrosion than the sandstone and soft limestone, providing a new image to architecture. However, his toughness made difficult the carving of the most complex architectural designs as the capitals, though we have an example of this case.

During the early years of the empire, in a short space of time, there is a new and significant architectural movement that generated important changes, not only in the use of building materials but also in style and form.

Public works and private projects of the local elite use the new material as a symbol of their join to the imperial power.

Even if in a first moment it seems that those materials tended to be imported, like Luni marble used in Puerta Urbica located in the actual Puerta Almodovar or the Forum Adiectum architectural project, recent analysis conducted by the Imperial Cult Center in Claudio Marcelo street reveals the use of hispanic marble with local limestone, which are relegated to the background.



THE ROMAN QUARRIES OF THE TOWN AND TERRITORY OF LOS BAÑALES (UNCASTILLO, ZARAGOZA, SPAIN)

A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.1, J. ANDREU 2 AND H. ROYO 3

1Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat s/n 43003 Tarragona, Spain; and Dept. de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autônoma de Barcelona, Bellterra, Spain;

[email protected] 2Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Spain; [email protected]

3Dept. de Geologia, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected]

The importance of the archaeological site of Los Bañales (Uncastillo, Zaragoza, Spain), as the imposing archaeological remains preserved (aqueduct, funerary monuments, thermae, forum, etc.) and the remarkable epigraphic repertoire of its territory suggest, is reinforced by its role as centre of a dispersed habitat, in form of villae, at a region of great agricultural potential. Located nearby the Roman route that linked Caesar Augusta (current Zaragoza) with Pompaelo (current Pamplona), it flourished during Roman times between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. However, a pre-Roman settlement probably existed already and ceramic material of the 4th century AD has been discovered there as well.

In this context, the abundant use of local stone as raw material, not only for construction purposes but also as epigraphic support, stands out. It is a Miocenic, brown sandstone that crops out profusely in the zone. It appears in horizontal layers alternated with clay and silt deposits, which facilitates its extraction.

The recent survey undertaken within the framework of a wider Research Plan led by Fundación Uncastillo allowed a first approach to the issues related to the exploitation of stone resources in this territory. So far, up to four points where sequences of rectangular holes that demonstrate the use of wedges to detach blocks from the bedrock have been identified. They are Punta Sampe, el corral de la Pesquera, Las Viñas and the way up to Los Bañales. Besides, a group of abandoned, roughly-hewn blocks near Punta Sampe extraction point has been identified, which might indicate the existence of a quarry workshop.

The location of these quarries, in the environs either of the urban centre of Los Bañales or next to some of the villae scattered throughout the territory, as well as the absence of large quarries that might have supplied the constructive programs of the city seem to point towards a dispersed pattern of exploitation of stone resources rather than a centralized one.



MARBLES FROM THE ROMAN VILLA OF ELS MUNTS (ALTAFULLA, TARRAGONA, SPAIN) AND THEIR ROLE IN THE DECORATIVE PROGRAM.

PRELIMINARY APPROXIMATION

A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M.1, J. A. REMOLÀ VALLVERDÚ2 AND F. TARRATS BOU2

1 Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat s/n, 43003 Tarragona; and Dept. de Ciències de l’Antiguitat i l’Edat Mitjana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Campus de

Bellaterra; [email protected] 2 Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona (MNAT), Av. de Ramón y Cajal, 82, 43005 Tarragona;

[email protected] and [email protected].

The best known and most important Roman villa located around ancient Tarraco was that of Els Munts (Altafulla). Mentioned already in the 16th century, the villa has been an object of several campaigns of excavation along the second half of the 19th century and beginning of the current one. A first building existed (1st century AD) but at the beginning of the 2nd century AD it was knocked down in order to build a new magnificient villa maritima articulated around a big garden that connected with central body of this building with the splendid meridional baths. At the end of the 3rd century AD, the central building suffered a remarkable fire of which recovered only partially. During the second half of the 4th century, the villa experienced a deep transformation that resulted on the Late Roman villa of Els Munts, which shows evidence of occupation until the 6th-7th centuries AD. A series of luxurious rooms, articulated the central nucleus of the villa by a portico, and two bath complexes show the importance of this villa as a residential place. The abundance of imported marbles together with the several polychrome mosaics and the outstanding wall and ceiling pictorial compositions and give an idea about the magnificence of this villa. In the context of a comprehensive study of the villa, including aspects such as the study of its sculpture, epigraphy, mosaics, architecture, etc, a study of the marbles and other ornamental stones has been recently initiated.

So far, the preliminary analysis led to the identification of coloured marbles and other stones from all the Mediterranean basin (porfido verde di Lacedemonia, porfido rosso, rosso antico, africano, verde antico, bardiglio, giallo antico, alabastro); among them broccatello and Santa Tecla stone, from the nearby quarries of Dertosa and Tarraco had also a relevant role. Also, a preliminary observation of the several white marble fragments from sculture, epigraphy and architectural decoration has been undertaken previous to their archaeometric analysis. Finally, the application of other local, less-sumptuous stones was also documented at Els Munts (i.e. Alcover stone, soldó and El Mèdol stone). A first assessment of the types of stones in relation to which purpose were employed and their volume will be presented at this paper as the basis to attest their role within the whole decorative program of the Roman villa of Els Munts.



QUARRY SCAPES DONE: RESULTS AND PERSPECTIVES FOR THE FUTURE

T. HELDAL

Geological Survey of Norway, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway; [email protected]

QuarryScapes (Conservation of ancient stone quarry landscapes in the Eastern Mediterranean) was a 3 year research project, supported by the EU 6th Framework Programme for Research and Development. The project finished November 1st 2008. QuarryScapes involved researchers in Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Italy, Belgium, UK and Norway, and was coordinated by the Geological Survey of Norway. The project aimed at raising the awareness of the importance of quarry landscapes, and develop methods for their characterization, evaluation of risks and how to assess their significance. The project included studies of 11 case study quarry landscapes in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, exploring various aspects of ancient quarries and the conservation and management of such sites. From the empirical data, a general methodology was drawn together on how to identify and analyze stone resources and material remains from quarrying, how to interpret time depth and multifunctional quarry landscapes, and finally perspectives of macro-level analyses for articulating historical values and significance. Reports from the different work packages can be downloaded from the website (www.quarryscapes.no). Also, a guide to characterization of quarry landscapes and a ‘showcase’ atlas of quarry landscapes can be found at the web site. Selected papers from the project are found in Geological Survey Special Publication 11.



SYMBOLISM AND HISTORIC ASPECTS: LITHIC MATERIALS USED AT THE BYZANTINE CHURCH (12 oc) OF TAXIARCH MICHEL OF MESARIA IN THE

ISLAND OF ANDROS (GREECE)

N. IOANNINOU

Ministry of Culture, Directorate Restoration Byzantine Monuments 20 Kallidromiou str., 11472-Athens, Greece; [email protected]

The development of Byzantine architecture in Greece paved the way for a series of important monuments built from 1040 on. In the island of Andros (north-west Aegean sea), is to be found the church of Saint Michael Taxiarch, one of the more interesting monuments of Byzantine architecture of the 12th century. The church, is to be sited, in Mesaria, that was the Byzantine capital of the island of Andros.

The cross-in square plan domed church dates from 12th century. In particular it dates from 1158 aC as it results from the dedications on the two marble columns that support the dome to west. It is one of the few Byzantine monuments whose dating its not based on stylistic ground. With those famous dedications, a few mosaics (opus sectile) survived up today, its diversity of marbles used as pavement revetment and its carved marbles it is probably a very important Byzantine monument to have survived in Greece.

« +Ο πάνσεπτος ναός ούτος ο του / μεγάλου ταξιάρχου Μιχαήλ ανοικοδομήθ(η) επί β/ ασιλέως κυρού Μανουήλ του Κομνηνού, Πα/τριάρχ(ου) κυρού Λουκά, κτητόρων δέ/ συνεύνων Κωνσταντοίνου / κε Ηρίνης ού κλήσις εστήν επονήμω/ς Μοναστηριώτου κε της Πρασήν (η)ς μηνή Μαρτ(ίω) ιν(δικτιώνος) ς έτους, ςΧΞς »

As it derives from the above inscription the sponsors of the construction of the church were Konstantinos Monastiriotis (Κωνσταντίνος Μοναστηριώτης) and his wife Eirini daughter of Prasinos), that belonged to noble families of the island. .

The church located at the island of Andros a crossroad of the Byzantine Empire on the road to Italy and Constantinople, not far from Athens, may itself revile certain historical facts and symbolisms.

Otherwise, the design of the church, its harmonious and accurate proportions and the use of the appropriate lithic materials were no doubt intended to focus to the importance of the church. Furthermore, there remain many open questions associated with the foundation of the first church at this place. Its initial construction can be probably attributed to the 8o c. aC, when at the island there was a school of Fhilosophical Studies, where the future Byzantine Emperor Leon the Sofos (775-780) was upgrading his education taking lessons near the known Byzantine scholar Michel Psellos.

The study of lithic materials used at the church, their use at the various historical phases, the use of local or imported stones, their origins, their relations to monuments of classic antiquity can help to the research of previous constructions at the same place with focus to the symbolism of those stones.



‘POROI’ IN ANCIENT CONSTRUCTIONS IN ATHENS: NATURE, PROPERTIES ΑΝD STATE OF PRESERVATION

K. KOUZELI1 AND Z. K. ANTONIOU2

1Chem. PhD., Stone Conservation Centre, Head of the Department, Greek Ministry of Culture, 79, Piraeus Str., Athens 10553, Greece; [email protected],

2Chem. Msc., Stone Conservation Centre, Greek Ministry of Culture, 79, Piraeus Str., Athens 10553, Greece; [email protected]

The term poros («πώρος») is not precise and it does not mean ‘porous’, even if some of the stones included have this quality in varying degrees. As already mentioned in previous works, ‘poros’ includes a wide range of stones of various hardness (medium – hard to medium – soft), grayish or yellowish in colour, essentially limestones, containing various admixtures and presenting various degrees of durability. A significant number of such stones had been used in ancient constructions in Athens.

In a previous work on the ‘Building materials (except pentelic marble) used in ancient Athens’ a few types of ‘poroi’ have been described.

In this work, the results of the systematic examination of thirty types of ‘poroi’ encountered in ancient constructions in Athens (at the archaeological site of Ceramikos, the Ancient Agora and the North and the South slope of the Acropolis), are presented.

The methods used for the characterization of the materials are: macroscopic examination, observation of free and smooth sections under the stereoscope, petrographic examination of thin sections, X Ray Diffraction as well as mercury porosimetry.

The poroi examined have been grouped according to their nature and their specific features (calcitic - dolomitic, fossiliferous, travertinic, fine and coarse-grained etc).

Specific deterioration patterns are observed related to the nature and physical properties of the stones as well as to their position on the monuments. Correlation of the nature, texture and physical properties to the state of preservation and the deterioration patterns has been attempted.

The existing knowledge on the provenance of the Athens ‘poroi’ is very limited and comes from ancient Greek texts, that is why a first attempt to identify locations of provenance of some types of poroi has also been carried out.



THE USE OF THE SAW DURING ROMAN AND PROTO BYZANTINE PERIOD IN THASSOS

T. KOZELJ AND M. WURCH-KOZELJ

École Française d’Athènes, GR-64 004, Thasos, Greece; [email protected], [email protected]

Sawing traces are evident on some marble blocks and slab fragments found in and near by the agora of Thassos.

The observation of the sawing traces on the marbles shows that different saws were used: some with one blade, others made of two or three blades, and particular ones composed by seven blades.

From the analysis of the details of these cutting the techniques of sawing can be derived: the shapes of the blade (material, length, thickness), the type of the saw, the requisite numbers of sawyers for the work; according to the purpose the marble pieces were produced (thin decoration slabs, plinths, pavement slabs...).



FINE GRAINED MARBLE QUARRIES IN THE FRENCH PYRENEES: OVERVIEW OF PETROGRAPHY, CATHODOLUMINESCENCE AND C AND O ISOTOPE

ANALYSIS

P. LAPUENTE1, H. ROYO1, PH. BLANC2 AND M. PREITE-MARTINEZ3

1Petrología y Geoquímica. Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected], [email protected]



The major problem with ancient marble studies is the identification of individual stones, especially that of white marbles. The last decade has seen increasing emphasis on the study of marble provenance used in archaeological artefacts. This is the case with those found in the Roman Coloniae of Caesaraugusta (Central part of the Ebro Valley). Data bases created with petrographical, chemical and physical parameters have made great progress, particularly on classical marbles (Carrara, Greek and Anatolian marbles).However marbles from local exploitation or quarries with no wide distribution of material are at a disadvantage with the most popular in ancient times.

This is the difficulty found in most Hispanic archaeological excavations, because not only classical marbles were used, but also, in most of them, the nearest quarries were exploited. In this respect, material is treated as local o regional distribution, competing with other imported stones. Lithic material used in Caesaraugusta is no exception: gypsum alabaster was widely used with marbles from the Saint Beat quarry district and other classical marbles were selected for particular programmes of decoration. However, when a combination of techniques is applied on archaeological pieces, some specific provenance assignment is unachievable, comparing with data from the most popular Roman quarries. This is the circumstance with fine grained marbles used in some archaeological artefacts found in Caesaraugusta.

From this point, an enlargement was needed of our data base focusing on the fine grained marble quarries. The aim of this paper is contribute to further identification of white marble quarries from the nearest area of the Ebro Valley using petrography, cathodoluminiscence (CL) and C and O isotopes. The analyzed marbles are located in the Atlantic Pyrenees (French central Pyrenees) and include Gère-Bélesten, Louvie-Soubiron, and Saint Pé-de-Bigorre. These quarries were previously studied by Costedoat in her Ph D Thesis, but no great attention was paid through lack of conclusive proof of having been used in Roman times.



LOCAL GYPSUM AND ALABASTER USED IN CAESARAUGUSTA (HISPANIA)

P. LAPUENTE1, H.ROYO1, J. MANDADO1, P. GALVE2. AND F. DE A. ESCUDERO2

1Petrología y Geoquímica, Ciencias de la Tierra, Zaragoza University, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

2Servicio de Patrimonio e Historia Cultural, Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza, C/ Madre Rafols, 50004 Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected], [email protected],

Caesaraugusta was founded as a Roman colony by the Augustus Emperor about 15 BC, in the middle Ebro Valley, the same place where another outstanding city (Salduie) existed. The importance of Caesaraugusta has been on the increase up till today (modern Zaragoza) and the same can be said of the use and worth of gypsum, especially alabaster extracted from the neighbouring quarries around the city.

Opus caementicium was the Roman technique of the construction of structures used in Caesaraugusta for principal buildings and also of foundations for such as walls, the theatre, forum or temples. However, gypsum (impure and pure alabaster) was the building stone most widely used for architectural works and decorative purposes. Numerous imported marbles were also consumed for the emblematic decoration programmes. Soil gypsum pebbles were additionally employed in replenishing works (agger).

Fine-grained white or lightly-tinted grey gypsum was the local material that offered greater advantages where regional marble quarries were lacking:

a) Geological environment: proximity of the outcrops, easy to extract and great facilities for supplying large quantities of material. The colony was set up in a strategic point where three rivers converge in the central sector of the Tertiary Ebro Basin. This sedimentary basin is filled by Miocene continental sediments composed of an evaporitic sequence, several hundreds of metres thick, overlain by a palustrine-lacustrine limestone formation (the later reduced to the higher topographic levels). The exposed Miocene sediments comprise horizontal beds of secondary laminar and nodular gypsum with thin (millimetres to centimetres) intercalations of grey marls. This abundance of evaporites beds explains their wide use for ashlars for monumental stone wall remains, which in fact were elements reused from the Roman theatre.

b) Petrophysical properties: though gypsum may be a granular or quite compact stone, it is composed of calcium sulphate dihydrate crystals, which are water-soluble. However its clays or marls impurities make the stone opaque but harder and durable. Two varieties were crafted, while the opaque impure gypsum bearing clays or marls were extensively used, the massive nodular translucent crystalline alabaster was selected for more specific indoor works. On the other hand, gypsum can range anywhere from translucent to opaque but is a very soft mineral, easy to work with, especially for those ornate elements (capitals, cornices, columns, bases etc.).

Alabaster has indubitably been the most representative stone used in Zaragoza, for more than two thousand years of its history. Nowadays, disseminated quarries 20-40 km SE of the city extract highly prized nodules for ornamental work in modern architecture known for its decorative value, which is exported around the world.



ARCHAEOMETRIC CHARACTERISATION OF SOME CALCAREOUS ALABASTERS USED IN ANTIQUITY

L. LAZZARINI1, D. VISONA2, M. GIAMELLO3 AND I. VILLA4

1Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi, Università Iuav di Venezia, S.Polo 2468 - 30125 Venezia, Italy; [email protected]

2Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Padova, Corso Garibaldi, 32 – 35100 Padova, Italy; [email protected]

3Dipartimento di Scienze Ambientali, U.R.Conservazione del Patrimonio Culturale Lapideo, Università di Siena, Via Laterina, 8 – 53100 Siena, Italy; [email protected]

4Isotopengeologie, Erlachstrasse, 9a – 3012 Bern, Switzerland; [email protected]

Calcareous alabasters, very often corresponding petrographically to travertines, were quarried in several provinces of the Roman Empire and widely used for architectural elements (columns, facing slabs, more seldom for capitals) and for small decorative objects (vases, including those known as alàbastra used for perfumes and precious oils, statuettes, funerary urns, tubs, etc.). In spite of their considerable importance as ornamental stones, and their wide distribution, very little is known about their origin, and their positive identification often remains very difficult. This is due to their considerable variability of colour and fabric, also within the same species, and to a lack of specific studies, especially of archaeometric characterisation. Hence our analyses – minero- petrographical (by XRD and OM on thin section) and geochemical (Sr isotopes by mass spectrometry, and chemical quantitative analysis by XRF) – of two important Italian alabasters, those of Iano di Montaione (Florence) and of Castelnuovo dell’Abate (Siena) and a Tunisian one from Djebel Oust (Tunis), and comparison of the results obtained with other alabasters from Middle Egypt, Thyatira (Turkey) and Oran (Algeria), which are sometimes very similar macroscopically. All these alabasters were used in Roman times, those from Italy also in the Renaissance and Baroque periods.



EFFECT OF THERMAL EXPANSION IN MARBLE DETERIORATION

A. LUQUE1, G. CULTRONE1, E. RUIZ-AGUDO2, E. SEBASTIÁN1 AND S. SIEGESMUND3

1Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada. Department of Mineralogy and Petrology. Fuentenueva s/n; 18002 Granada, Spain; [email protected]

2Institut für Mineralogie, University of Münster, Corrensstr. 24, 48149 Münster, Germany 3Geoscience Centre, University of Göttingen. Department of Structural Geology and Geodynamics.

Goldschmidtstr. 3; 37077 Göttingen, Germany

One of the most appreciated properties of marble as construction and ornamental material is its low porosity. It is evident that the absence of pores in a material hinders the access of decay agents (water, salts, microorganisms, etc.) inside, favouring its durability over time.

However, it has been shown that environmental thermal fluctuations are responsible of significant physical changes in marbles, and because of that, an increase in porosity is produced due to the formation of new cracks and the expansion of those already existent.

Any increase and/or change in porosity in these materials, even if small, will cause considerable effects on their durability. In fact, the porosity is important either in its absolute value (which can continue being low) or in relation to the new disposition and orientation of pores and/or the crack system in the marble.

The microcracks generated by thermal expansion will favour subsequent deterioration due to mineralogical break-up. In fact, when new ways inside the marble are opened, the penetration of a saline solution within the material is facilitated.

After thermal expansion tests, study of the pore system of three different types of marble (Blanco, Tranco, and Yellow Triana; from Almería, Spain) was carried out by means of water absorption, mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), N2 adsorption and ultrasounds measurements. In all samples, an increase in porosity was observed, mainly due to crack formation.

Moreover, if we compare the data obtained by means of N2 adsorption and MIP analyses, we can see a clear relationship between the increase of largest pores and the decrease of those smallest (decreasing the surface area and the fractal dimension).

Finally, we have demonstrated that the degree of damage that takes place in marbles after salt crystallization test is directly related to their observed behaviour during thermal expansion tests.



‘PESI DI BASALTO DAL TERRITORIO ROMANO’ OR SOMETHING ELSE? THREE STONE ARTEFACTS FROM THE CASTELLANI COLLECTION IN THE

CAPITOLINE MUSEUMS, ROME

A. MAGAGNINI

Curatore Musei Capitolini, Via delle Tre Pile,1 00186 Roma, Italy; [email protected]

This presentation will take into account three hitherto completely unpublished stone artefacts recorded in the museum’s 19th century catalogues as ‘pesi in basalto dal territorio romano’.

The involvement of the Università La Sapienza di Roma - Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche dell’Antichità e Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra – was essential to begin this study. Thanks to its participation, it was possible to carry out petrographic analyses to ascertain the origin of the stone.

Very little information was in fact available about these objects. They belonged to Augusto Castellani, a Roman goldsmith, who donated his remarkable collection to the Capitoline Museums in the mid-19th century. Except in some cases, Castellani remained deliberately silent regarding the finding circumstances or how they came into his possession.

Parallel to the petrographic analysis, the research aimed at reconstructing the history of the artefacts within the vicissitudes of the making of the Castellani collection; thus, succeeding in explaining how Castellani acquired them and in identifying the probable context and geographical area of provenance.

These data combined with the results of the petrographic analysis have permitted us to determine the function of the artefacts and their dating adding new elements for the history of Italian museum collections.



GEOHERITAGE EVALUATION OF ANCIENT QUARRY LANDSCAPES: THE CASE OF HISTORICAL QUARRIES IN ARAGON (SPAIN)

G. MELÉNDEZ1, Mª F. COLUCCI2 AND J. RAMAJO2.

1Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain; [email protected]

2Instituto Geológico y Minero de España, Zaragoza, Spain.

The description and identification of historical quarry sites has two main purposes: On the one side, matching old buildings with their original building- stone source area whenever possible, towards a proper use of identical material for substitution of decaying architectonical elements. Secondly, providing the local authorities the possibility to enable quarrying on rock materials for cultural heritage restoration. Current work on geoconservation of quarry landscapes mainly focuses on two points: (1) the work of quarry documentation, interpretation and preservation and (2) The development of monitoring and risk assessment programs.

The analysed quarries dig on Late Oligocene to Early Miocene fluvial and lacustrine deposits of the Ebro basin. They comprise two main lithological groups: lithic sandstones and bioclastic sandy limestones (Rudstone). To the first group belong the so-called Mequinenza Fm (Oligocene) Sariñena Fm (Oligocene-lower Miocene) and Uncastillo Fm (late Oligocene-Miocene). The second lithological group in turn is represented by the Alcubierre Fm (Miocene).

Archaeological evidence suggests that exploitation activities could stretch as far as 2000 years back, to the Roman Period, mainly for civil works use, whereas exploitation for ornamental and building stone would take place between Middle age and Renaissance. Fifty ancient quarries have been located in Aragón, some thirty of them long known described, and twenty new sites recently documented by one of the authors (F.C).

Regarding historical quarries as proper heritage values, towards their geoconservation and definition as legal heritage features includes: (1) their historical tracking to show the changes in the landscape, documented by the comparison of previous studies and pictures, with the current situation of sites. (2) Their protection against the increase of anthropic impact, including active quarrying, agriculture, and other man induced activities, which are covering these historical exploitations with waste, thus constituting a serious threaten to the sites. (3) The crucial work of recording and systematizing the available documentation of the quarries (i.e. the associated archaeological and historical data) in order to show the possibilities for conservation.

As a final aim, the Geoconservation programme would plan to present the studied sites as potential ‘in situ’ museums (Exomuseums) and points of geological interest towards their future nomination and/or definition as true heritage legal features.



THE ROMAN QUARRY OF MONTJUÏC (BARCELONA).

C. MIRÓ1 AND E. REVILLA

1 Avinguda d’Europa, 27-31, 4rt 1ª, Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]

One of the greatest wealth of Montjuïc is its stone, the so called gres de Montjuïc or Montjuïc sandstone. The main part of the most outstanding buildings of Barcelona were constructed with material: the Roman wall, the Roman temple, the first Christian church, the Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, the Gothic palaces of Ribera, etc.

The first evidence of the use of Montjuïc sandstone goes back to the earliest prehistoric populations, during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. However, the systematic exploitation of this stone began in Roman times, as the foundation ex novo of the Colonia Iulia Faventia Paterna Barcino required a large volume of building material.

A large outcrop of sandstone with traces of block extraction was located at the south-southeast slope of the hill. The excavation of the site uncovered the remaining negative traces of blocks of prismatic shape distributed in terraces. It is the only known Roman quarry in our city.

The excavation took an area of 200 m2 and exposed 50 meters long and about 10 meters high quarry front. Despite the technical problems involved on the civil work made not possible to carry on the excavation until finding the quarry front limits, it is clearly a large, open air exploitation site.

In this paper, we will present this quarry, explain its morphological study as well as discuss the importance of Montjuïc sandstone and its transport from the site to the town under construction.



THE REPUBLICAN ROMAN AND MEDIEVAL QUARRY OF SANT MIQUEL D’OLÈRDOLA (OLÈRDOLA, BARCELONA)

N. MOLIST1 AND P. OTIÑA2

1Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya-Olèrdola, Spain; [email protected] 2Archaeologist, in collaboration with the ICAC and MAC-Olèrdola, Spain; [email protected]

The Republican Roman fortification of Sant Miquel d’Olèrdola, nestled among the foothills just south of the Garraf Massif, some 50 km north of Tarragona, preserves an imposing wall, constructed in opus quadratum with a tendency towards polygonal masonry and, on the upper section, in opus incertum, along with a tower erected in opus quadratum, on the hill’s summit.

To raise these military constructions, the Romans exploited two open-pit quarries, one located within the fortified compound’s central area and the other outside the walls, near the vallum. The interior quarry was reopened during the Early Middle Ages and quarrying resumed, as the emerging civitas Olerdula’s demand for stone, needed to construct the wall, churches and castle in particular, increased.

This work will detail the quarrying systems used in the Miocene limestone quarries during the Roman and Medieval periods, along with the principal stone-cutting characteristics evident in the Romans’ public works, which clearly follow Italic traditions. It will analyze, furthermore, the abundant stone waste generated as a result of the in-place quarrying system, and the scarce material elements recovered that relate to the stonemason’ labour.-



PROVENANCE OF CONSTRUCTION STONE FROM ROMAN MONUMENTS IN MERIDA, SPAIN

Mª I. MOTA1, M. A. DE BUERGO2, A. PIZZO3 AND R. FORT2

1INTROMAC. Campus Universidad de Extremadura, 10071, Cáceres, Spain; [email protected] 2Instituto de Geología Económica (CSIC-UCM). Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, 28040, Madrid;

[email protected], [email protected] 3Instituto de Arqueología de Mérida (IAM). Plaza España 15, 06800, Mérida, Badajoz, Spain;

[email protected]

The aim of the present study is to characterize the petrophysical properties of the plutonic rocks (Hercynian) forming part of the batholiths from Merida (Badajoz, Spain). Their characteristics were determined to assess the suitability of using these materials for replacement purposes in case of restoration of the monuments built with these stones, either if they are heritage buildings of Mérida or not, or even if a similar building material was used with similar petrophysics properties. For this purpose, three historic quarries not far from the urban centre of the monumental city of Mérida were selected and studied. These quarries are those located in the Sierra Berrocal-La Coscoja, Sierra Carija and in the area of the Proserpina reservoir, a formerly Roman reservoir.

The petrophysical characterization of the materials of these quarries was carried out by means of the determination of structural, physical, mechanical and hydric properties: bulk and real densities and open porosity (UNE EN 1936:2007), water absorption at atmospheric pressure (UNE EN 13755:2008), capillary water absorption (UNE EN 1925:1999) and compression strength (UNE EN 1926:2007). The material was also petrographically characterised by polarized-light microscopy (UNE EN 12407:2007). For this reason, stone specimens were made at the laboratory with specific dimensions according to the type of test and the standard to be followed.

The obtained results allow identifying the different varieties and are in keeping with the expected results.

The different types of granites that were studied are:

- Porphyric Leucogranite with Cordierite, in the surroundings of the Proserpina reservoir (medium grain size porphyric granite).

- Fine grained leucogranite, in Sierra Carija.

- Leucogranite from Berrocal-La Coscoja, in Sierra Berrocal (Stock).

The results obtained in Sierra Carija and Sierra Berrocal, are very similar. The results obtained in Proserpina reservoir show high densities and low water absorptions. These properties ensure stone strength and durability, making the stones high quality building materials, suitable for both structural and ornamental purposes.



THE CHARACTERIZATION AND STATE OF CONSERVATION OF BUILDING MATERIALS USED IN GRECO-ROMAN TIMES IN NORTHERN EGYPT: THE

CASE OF MARINA EL ALAMEIN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

M. MROZEK-WYSOCKA1 AND P. ZAMBRZYCKI2

1Institute of Geology, Adam Mickiewicz, University in Poznan Ul. Makow Polnich 16, 61-606 Poznan, Poland; [email protected]

2Inter Academy Institute of Restoration and Conservation of Works of Art Wybrzeze Kosciuszkowskie 37, 00-379 Warsaw, Poland; [email protected]

The remains of Greco-Roman towns located in northern Egypt are significant for both Egyptian and Greco-Roman cultural heritage. Apart from Alexandria, the major cultural center in Egypt during ancient times, there are several towns ruins situated near Mediterranean coast, where archaeological excavations have been conducted at the present time. This paper is focused on limestones from ancient town Marina el Alamein (100 km SW from Alexandria). Limestones were used as main building material for construction purposes, mostly for elements like walls, columns, pavements and architectural decoration, but also for monumental construction such as tombs in necropolis. A preliminary study had already showed that the raw materials are of the local provenance. Also underground parts of tombs had been curved in lime basement.

The main aim of this research was to establish the reasons of limestones susceptibility to weathering and to undertake proper conservation methods to prevent progressive deterioration of the objects. Analysis included petrographic observation on thin section, XRD investigation and SEM-EDS morphological and micro-chemical analyses. Samples were collected from various parts of the houses and tombs.

Petrographic and geochemical investigations showed that the presence of carbonate-clayey cement in the oolithic limestone is responsible for low cohesiveness. Combination of an erosive seaside climate and seasonal variations in humidity and temperature level results in limestone decay. Distribution of decay processes in buildings ruins is diversified, concentrated mainly upon the water absorption line. Different forms of alteration and degradation are observed, like powdering, exfoliation, pitting, granular degradation. Conservation work have been proceeded by tests under controlled conditions. They have been based on reinforcing the stone firstly by solution of dispersive parts using a drop injection, secondly by covering with a proper lime plaster. Another conservation proceedings are in progress.

An additional purpose of this investigation is to determine an appropriate stone material used in renovation and partial anastylosis. Restoring interventions on objects have been executed using both local oolithic limestone and Heluan limestone. The results of the present research are due to be applied in the future conservation and restoration works.



THE RECOVERY OF ROMAN QUARRIES AS A SYMBOL OF ARTISTIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL MODERNITY. THE CASE OF CATALONIA IN THE MODERN

AGE (16TH – 18TH CENTURIES)

M. ORTÍ AND M. INGLÈS

Department de Geoquímica, Petrologia i Prospecció Geològica. Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona. C/ Martí i Franqués, s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected]

The introduction of a new artistic paradigm usually involves a renewed interest for some specific materials. In the European most progressive artistic circles of the XVI-XVIII centuries this tendency implied the recovery of ancient quarries as well as the research of new marmora as a symbol of modernity, classical culture, technological knowledge and power over Nature. Nevertheless, to get marble and to find master sculptors able to modelling it properly not always was an easy thing.

In Catalonia, the ancient Roman quarries of limestones in Tarragona and Tortosa played a fundamental role on this recovery process. The broccatello of Tortosa and the llisós of Tarragona were locally exploited during the Middle Age. However, their major use as ornamental rocks occurred along the XVI century in association with the introduction of the architectonic Classicism, which was leaded by a group of master masons and religious authorities of the Tarragona dioceses known as the Escola del Camp de Tarragona. The irradiation of the Italian art tendencies from Tarragona to the rest of Catalonia was a key factor in the commercialization of broccattello and llisós along the whole territory. In addition to that, it promoted the opening of new quarries in Barcelona, Torroella de Montgrí or Vic. The repertory of autochthonous marmora was completed during the XVII century with the alabaster (gypsum) of Beuda and Sarral –to replace the white marble– and some dark limestones including the black jasper of Torroja del Priorat. All of them were first used together in Tarragona, and then in the predellas of a number of altarpieces, chapels and civil buildings of the XVII and XVIII centuries.

The trade routes along the Mediterranean facilitated the arrival of brocatello to Valencia, France or England, but particularly allowed its full incorporation into the Italian market of marbles. From Tortosa, this material was also sent to Zaragoza, Madrid, Zamora or Toledo. The great success of brocatello was partially due to its Roman use and its red colour, but this success would have been impossible without the technical improvement reached by quarrymen and artists from Tortosa and Tarragona. Among all the other materials, the distinguishing characteristic of the stones worked by Romans was the possibility to obtain big monolithic columns. These columns were the main product of the workshops of Tortosa and Tarragona.



THE IMAGO CLIPEATA OF 'LUCIO SITRIO MODESTO' AS AN EXAMPLE OF IMITATIO URBIS IN CAMPANIA (ITALY)

A. PALMENTIERI

Italy, Naples University ‘Federico II’, Dipartimento Discipline Storiche ‘E. Lepore’, Via Nuova Marina 33 –Naples , 8° floor, Italy; [email protected]

The Roman city of Abella, already known to Virgil for its hazelnuts, is in the hinterland of ancient Campania, near Nola, which is itself known as the birthplace of Ottaviano Augusto.

The ancient centre Osco-Samnite, boasting Greek origins, was tied up since the Republican Age to the influence of Nola, which occupied a favourable topographical position for trading between the towns of the regions of Irpinia and Capua.

The urban centre of Avella, today partly covers that of a small colony, from which it is possible to determine the ancient perimeter based on the remains of the necropolis. The city buildings, already constructed at the beginning of the post-Silla age, have almost entirely disappeared with the exception of the amphitheatre, whilst some of them, such as the theatre, the swimming pool and the basilica, are mentioned by the surviving epigraphs, often re-employed in the surrounding area.

For the first phases of the Imperial Age, there are numerous traces of monuments in the city, such as the necropolises of St. Nazzaro and St. Paolino. These can be dated based on building techniques and the statuesque decorations, typical of the period including the end of the first century BC and the beginning of the first century AD.

An architectural relief with imago clipeata from the end of the age of Augustus and the beginning of the age of Julius-Claudius, is perhaps pertinent to a 'tempietto' type gravestone or to a public monument such as the amphitheatre of Abella.

This large relief, the subject of our investigation, made out of Lunense marble in a quadrangular form, is in one piece, except for the upper left corner, with a vertical artificial cut, probably made in the Medieval era. This was re-employed on the façade of the St. Pietro church in Avella from at least 1600.

The marble, of exquisite workmanship, is attributable according to the base of the epigraph, preserved on the panel below, to Lucio Sitrio Modesto's monument.

Sitrio's relief opens up the debate about its typology, that reflects the adhesion to the decorative formulas of the architectural augustean language, little documented in the centre of Campania. The study of this relief is also interesting for its philological history.

What is clear in the analysis of the monument of Sitrio, is that this deals with an expression of auto-representation of a member of high-rank. There are not many similarities with other monuments in Campania or Lazio.

After the marble construction of the Augustus' Forum in Rome, a group of workshops guaranteed the fruition of the urban model in other centres of the Roman Empire. To this experience they drew the local shops.

Following on from this idea, we can note the uninhibited aggregation of the decorative forms and the form of the 'clipeo abellanos', which prove the relative appropriation of the urban model, produced according to local influences, who were able to develop, at this particular moment in history, an architecture of great significance in an important area between Nola and Avella.



THE ROMAN QUARRY OF PALMA DE MALLORCA (SPAIN)

I. PEÑA1 AND P. OTIÑA2

1Arqueóloga. Nemesis SCCL, Tarragona, Spain. 2Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica. Pl. Rovellat s/n, Tarragona, Spain; [email protected]

An archaeological intervention took place in 2004 in a country estate belonging to the old part of the city of Palma de Mallorca.The obtained results allowed to document a historical sequence that embraces from the medieval period to the roman-republican age.

Part from the historical sequence corresponds with a stone quarry unknown until that moment.The archaeological action allowed to document a development front and a series of cuttings in the rock. Likewise an important dump of inorganic material was excavated and this dates the moment that the quarry was abandoned. Equally a series of structures of rectangular floor were documented and it seems that they are related to the explotation of the quarry.



SMALL QUARRIES OF THE DESERT

M. E. PEROSCHI AND F. CAMBIERI

CSAA (Centro Studi Archeologia Africana), Via Crimea 21, 20147 Milano, Italy; [email protected], [email protected]

For the past six years, a small group of CSAA researchers led by the Authors has been surveying the Western Desert of Egypt, paying special attention to the areas of Gilf Kebir and Jebel Uweinat, with the purpose of locating new rock art sites and evidences from the Paleolithic era onwards. While documenting different typologies of sites, we also came across a number of small, ancient quarries: the most relevant of the lot are depicted in our poster.

Though of a lesser significance, such findings nevertheless increase our knowledge about the exploitation of local quarries and the use of such material for the production of tools dating back as far as the Middle Pleistocene.

The driving motivation of our expeditions is the attempt to document and report the riches of this unique area, before the increasing hordes of so-called tourists deplete such unspoiled environment.



DECAY AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES OF ROCKS CONTAINING DINOSAUR FOOTPRINTS: THE CASE OF SEVERAL SITES IN NE SPAIN

J. L. PRADA1, M. BADIA2, A. ÀLVAREZ4, O. OMS2, R. ESTRADA2 AND M. E. ARRIBAS3

1Escola Superior de Conservació i Restauració de Béns Culturals de Catalunya, C/ Aiguablava 109-

113, Barcelona, Spain 2Departament de Geologia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del

Vallés) Barcelona. Spain 3Departamento de Estratigrafía, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de

Madrid, 28040 Madrid. Spain 4Institut Catlaà d’arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003, Tarragona, Spain;

[email protected]

The increasing interest on the conservation of geological heritage is leading to the interaction of geological science and engineering studies with conservation techniques (basically those related to the methodology used in the monumental heritage preservation).

In order to characterize the material and the weathering mecanisms that causes its decay we have carried out several essays. We have also tested the performance qualities of the product (application of consolidants and water-repellents).

Studies and essays include petrological analysis, soluble salts determinations, XRD, scanning microscope (en algun jaciment Fumanya i Doll), essays of vacuum absortion, desortion in water, capillary suction, salts crystallization, (en algun jaciment Fumanya i Doll), product penetration (només a Fumanya) and stone expansion (en algun jaciment Fumanya i Doll). As a result of these studies we conclude that the Fumanya site mudstones undergo strong weathering as a result of mechanical tension, extreme high-lands climate.

For some cases the size of the site and the results of the above essays lead to plan a two-step preservation strategy, which is different from those of the monumental heritage. In this study case, geological works are not restricted to geothecnics, but also include stratigraphy, structural geology, hydrogeology, and external geodynamics.

The first conservation step (when required) consists on a large scale stabilization of the outcrops with engineering methods including water run-off control and infiltration and sealing of cracks (mortar injection). Generally it should de avoided mechanical anchoring due to the microfracturing.

The second step involves the application of the best performing consolidants and water repellents. For very large sites, full protection may not be feasible. So that the strategy should focuse in the small scale preservation of the footprints and its close surrounding. Anyway, in some cases a long-term preservation should include a roofed or even closed structure of selected areas.



MASON’S MARKS ON THE ORIENTALIZING BUILDING FROM POZO MORO (ALBACETE, SPAIN) AND THEIR RELATION WITH THE SOUTHERN

PALAOEHISPANIC WRITINGS

I. M. PRIETO

Dpto. de Historia Antigua. Facultad de Geografia e Historia, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Ciudad Universitaria s/n, 28040, Madrid , Spain; [email protected]

Recent analysis of the orientalizing monument from Pozo Moro (Albacete) have helped us to find some new mason’s marks not known before. We present two new types of marks incised on the stone blocks, so the total number of types rises up to four while the number of individual marks rises up to nine. The value of this discovery concerns on a few aspects. The first is that the new marks demonstrate the use of signs of the Meridional palaeohispanic writing as mason’s marks. This is the first ever known example of that use. Related to it, the monument from Pozo Moro would become the earliest proof of the existence and use of the Meridional palaeohispanic writing, rising up their chronology, at least, to the beginning of the 5th century BC and making these writing more ancient than the Iberian Levantine writing. In fact, Pozo Moro would be the earliest archaeological proof of the use of mason’s marks in the Iberian Culture. Once more, it is a clear evidence of the intimate interaction between western Phoenician communities and tartessian/Iberian communities. Besides, we’ll contribute to correct some wrong affirmations about the location and function of the marks so they will not remain quoted on future researches. Though these signs may be considered mere marks, we are convinced that they are closely related to the use of writing signs. We hope to help to the discussion about stonework in Antiquity in different ways, from quarrying to architectonic use of stone blocks and the study of measurement units, organization of the workshops, etc.



THE SOAPSTONE POTS ‘PIETRA OLLARE’ IN ROUSSILLON: STATEMENT OF DISCOVERIES

I. RÉBÉ

Isabelle Rébé, Centre Archeologique de Ruscino. Château-Roussillon, F-66000 Perpignan (France); [email protected]

The soapstone was used in the alpine mountains to make a lot of objects, among which, since the roman period, some throwed pots. During the late empire and the early middle age, these pieces were diffused into bordering regions. In the Languedoc region, some soapstone pots fragments were recently published but until now, these discoveries haven’t go past the Hérault River. Our study concerns twenty fragments coming from the Ruscino site, and other fragments which were discovered during excavations or prospecting in the Rousillon country. These pieces belong to the alpine repertoire: cylindrical high forms, sometimes with a fluted decoration. Most of them carry throwing grooves or tools marks. This range of fragments, relatively important compared to the Languedoc series, and to the remoteness of the source of production, allows spreading southward the distribution area of these pieces during the early middle age.



LOCAL STONE IN THE MONUMENTAL CENTER OF TUSCULUM (LATIUM, ITALY): CONSTRUCTIVE USE AND EPIGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE

R. RIBALDI1 AND D. GOROSTIDI2

1Via Silvestri, 103, 00188, Roma, Italia; [email protected] 2Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clássica, Pl. Rovellat, s/n, 43003, Tarragona, Spain;

[email protected]

The ruins of Tusculum are situated on the Tuscolo hill, on the north edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano, in the Alban Hills, 25 km north-west of Rome. This paper aims to give an overview of the archaeological data obtained from analysis of the local stone construction materials, mainly limestone called ‘peperino’ (lapis Albanus) or ‘pietra sperone’ (lapis Tusculanus), whose quarries are located in the vicinity of the town. The limestone is the material used throughout the early Republic, easily removable from quarries nearby, some of them located in the walls of the Tusculan acropolis.

Some of the blocks have a number of signs and markings assembly, and their analysis provides data on the development of work at the quarry and putting pieces in building. The different types of limestone and construction techniques allow for a chronological seriation of stages of the most emblematic buildings of the city.

Despite the preponderance of local stone, there is the presence of travertine in combination with limestone in the set of monumental cornice of the theater, whose date is in the first Augustan age (Rodríguez 2008). Specifically, the application in the construction of the travertine, virtually absent from the materials stored on site (parallelepiped blocks, column shafts and mouldings), located on the other hand, a witness of exceptional importance in the dual express mention in an opistographic monumental inscription from the forum of the city referring to the constructive use of lapis Tiburtinus (CIL XIV, 2623), one of the few references to name of stone contained in latin epigraphy (Rodà 2004).

The findings relate to the urban areas studied, with special emphasis on the monumental complex theater-forum.

RODÀ 2004 = I. Rodà de Llanza, “Uso y comercio del mármol”, Histria Antiqua, 12, pp. 39-44.

RODRÍGUEZ 2007 = O. Rodríguez Gutiérrez “Le cornici del frontescena del teatro romano di Tusculum: un complesso recuperato”, RM, 113, pp. 553-570.



DARDAGANI QUARRY: MAIN REGIONAL LIMESTONE SOURCE FOR ROMAN SIRMIUM

I.RIZNAR1, B.DJURIC2, A. MAVER2, G. RUTAR2, J. DAVIDOVIC3, H.W. MÜLLER4 AND D. JOVANOVIC5

1Ulica bratov Martinec 40, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia; [email protected] 2University of Ljubljana, Dept. of Archaeology, Askerceva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia;

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 3Museum of Srem, Vuka Karadzica 3, 22000 Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia

4University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Institute of Applied Geology, Gregor Mendel Straße 33, A-1180 Vienna, Austria; [email protected]

5Geological Institute of Serbia, Rovinjska 12, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia; [email protected]

The main regional source of limestone for the Roman town of Sirmium in Pannonia was, from at least the early 2nd century onwards, the vast quarry of Dardagani, to the north of Zvornik (Bosnia and Herzegovina; Roman province of Dalmatia). It was connected to Sirmium, located 110 km further to the north-east, along the rivers Drina (Drinus) and Sava (Savus). At this quarry, traces of Roman extraction sub divo in the length of at least 1.5 km were registered on the slopes of the contact between the alluvial plain and the outskirts of the Majevica hill. They reveal different stages in the process of extraction in the form of smaller parallel production units – loci. Furthermore, three vast underground complexes (bracchia) were also registered – the largest one covering the surface of approx. 2500 m2. These complexes are composed of several smaller chambers (loci, cubicula), cut into two 3-7 m thick production layers of homogeneous Neogene limestone. Excellently preserved traces of extraction and blocks left in the ceiling, walls and floor enable a reconstruction of the manner of extraction and identification of the tools used. The products found in the interior show various production stages and confirm that the production took place inside the underground parts of the quarry.

Geologic column was produced for the broad area of the quarry. The quarry itself revealed two horizons of Neogene limestone. The lower one reflects reef deposition and the upper one the transition to deeper sea environment (deepening upward). Individual lithotypes from the quarry were compared to the Sirmium artifacts. Two lithotypes were positively identified in a number of artifacts, such as funerary monuments, altars, capitals and others.



GRANITE USED AS A SUPPORT, ALMOST EXCLUSIVE, FOR DOCUMENTS AND MONUMENTS IN THE ROMAN GALLAECIA

A. RODRÍGUEZ COLMENERO1 AND M. C. CARREÑO GASCÓN2

1Departamento de Historia I, Area de Historia Antigua, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain; [email protected]

2 Directora del Servicio de Arqueología del Ayuntamiento de Lugo, Lugo, Spain; [email protected]

Granite always was the main traditional support of the monuments in the North-West of Hispania. Therefore, the first known ‘stela’ in the dolmens were made of this material, as well as the large evidences of rock art from Bronze until Medieval period. Consequently, Roman employed the same material in the architecture, sculpture or different kinds of inscriptions. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that other materials like bronze or gold, and native or imported marble in the Late Antiquity were not used in this area.



ECCLESIASTICAL GEOLOGY IN THE CITY OF LISBON

P. SÁ CAETANO1, V. LAMBERTO2 AND P. HASSE VERDIAL3

1FCT/UNL, Quinta da Torre, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; [email protected] 2CERENA/IST, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; [email protected]

3FCT/UNL, Quinta da Torre, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal; [email protected]

Natural stone, due to its high quality, durability, symbolism and nobleness and even to its acoustic properties, have for centuries been the most used material for the construction and ornamentation of buildings dedicated to religious ceremonies: chapels, churches, monasteries, abbeys, etc. Ecclesiastical Geology is an area of geological research that should therefore be understood as the study of the rocks used as building material in these houses of worship.

Among several purposes that a study of this kind can achieve are, for example:

a) The consideration of these occurrences as urban geological heritage sites;

b) The use of these stones as a geological sciences teaching resource;

c) The study of the various provenances that over time have been considered as construction material sources;

d) The creation of geo-touristic itineraries.

In the city of Lisbon, the Capital of Portugal, countless ecclesiastical buildings and other monuments have used ornamental stones in their construction and show a broad and extremely diverse variety of lithologies and different applications. Major sources of these materials are recognized as being from places as near as the Lisbon surroundings and even the Estremoz Marble Zone, to places as far as Italy and Iran.

A detailed inventory of the natural stones identified in over 70 ecclesiastical buildings throughout the city has been carried out in order to constitute a web geographical data base that may be used to achieve several of the purposes referred to above. One of the major objectives that is being pursued is the use of the created data base as an essential source for outlining urban geo-touristic itineraries and guides.



THE PAINTED MARBLES OF CARTAGENA’S ROMAN THEATRE (MURCIA, SPAIN)

B. SOLER1, J.M. NOGUERA1, R. ARANA2 AND J.A. ANTOLINOS1

1Departamento de Prehistoria, Arquología e Historia Medieval, Facultad de Letras, Universidad de Murcia. 30100, Murcia, Spain; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]


One of the most relevant aspects of the Roman theatre of Carthago Noua (5BC-1BC) was the use of large amounts of imported white and coloured marble in the decoration of the scene building behind the stage. As a peculiarity, many of the architectural and decorative elements made of Carrara marble still preserve remnants of paint applied directly over the material’s surface. So far the presence has been documented of Corinthian capitals painted in red and Egyptian blue, Attic bases painted in ochre and small mouldings from the wall of the scene building with various combinations of red and ochre. The relevance of these pigments lies in the early chronology of the programme as well as in its possible meaning. The most direct equivalent is the Forum of Augustus with various architectural elements painted in Egyptian blue, especially the figurative decoration on the walls of the Hall of Colossus. The case of the theatre of Cartagena is not the only one documented in Spain; marbles painted in red have also been found in the Augusteum of Mérida, the Forum of Sagunto and the theatre of the Roman town of Bilbilis. This paper aims to make the advances in this field known to the public and to advance the first findings on the analysis of pigments.



DETERIORATION PROBLEMS AND PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE CONSERVATION OF THE BUILDING MATERIALS OF EXCAVATIONS OF

NAVARINO AND DIIKITIRIO, THESSALONIKI

P. SPATHIS1, E. PAPASTERGIADIS2, B. CHRISTARAS3, M. MAVROMATI4 AND M. LOUKMA4

1Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Chemistry, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124, Thessaloniki, Greece; [email protected]

2Dr. Chemist. 3Prof., Dept. of Geology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

4Conservator of Monuments

From the excavations of Navarino and Diikitirio squares at the centre of Thessaloniki, large constructions of public buildings of the roman period, built during the 3rd AC and 1st BC centuries correspondingly, were found.

The problem of the conservation of the bricks and mudbricks, the main building materials of these structures, is severe and condition to select an effective preservation method is the knowledge of the composition and properties of the material, as well the processes contributing to the deterioration of the structures.

A study of the mineralogical and chemical composition and the physical and mechanical properties of the materials was carried out and from the results it follows that it consists of a mixture of silt and sand and it is mainly composed of quartz, feldspars, aluminosilicates and asbestite.

The physical and mechanical properties and characteristics, related to the weathering resistance of the materials were determined: texture, hardness, strength, bulk density, porosity, physical moisture, water absorption, sonic velocity. The results of the above measurements showed that the material is relatively stable and strength, with a great porosity, sensitive to deterioration caused mainly by water, rain and wind erosion, capillary rise of water. Preliminary experiments of conservation treatments with various organic coatings (Paraloid, silanes, silazanes, siloxanes) were carried out and the influence of these treatments to the physical and mechanical properties of the materials was measured. From the results followed that the coatings used decreased porosity and water permeability but decreased also the mechanical strength of the materials.



A GRINDING STONE QUARRY IN THE EGYPTIAN SAHARA

P. STOREMYR

Conservation Science Consulting, Rue de l'Industrie 10, CH-1700 Fribourg. Corresponding address: Herrligstr. 15, CH-8048 Zurich, Switzerland; [email protected]

During the 2007 ‘North Kharga Oasis Survey’ led by Prof. Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo a silicified sandstone (‘quartzite’) quarry for procurement of typical ‘Saharan’ basin grinding stones was discovered about 200 km to the west of the Nile Valley. This is the first grinding stone quarry that has been reported from the Eastern Sahara. Probably dating to the Neolithic period, the quarry is small, yet thousands of rough-outs were manufactured at the place and presumably used at habitation sites 10-50 km away. Bearing witness of organised, skilled work, located near a desert route and a significant rock art site, the quarry raises many questions about prehistoric procurement strategies, some of which will be elucidated in this presentation.



POLISHING PROBLEMS IN A ORNAMENTAL LIMESTONE

A. TRAVÉ AND J.D. AND MARTÍN-MARTÍN

Universitat de Barcelona, Dpt. Geoquímica, Petrologia i Prospecció Geològica, Martí i Franquès s/n, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; [email protected], [email protected]

Ornamental limestones are classified as carbonate rocks that can be polished. The typical Eocene nummulitic limestone constitutes one of the most important ornamental rocks extracted in Catalonia nowadays. Occasionally slabs of this rock show areas that cannot be accurately polished which reduce its quality as ornamental rock. The aim of this work is to present analytical data in order to discuss problems associated with the polishing of limestones.

Petrography indicates that the rock is a foraminifer packstone with red algae, miliolids, textularids, equinoderms and bryozoans. Fine to medium quartz sand clasts (~15%) together with metamorphic rock fragments, Mesozoic dolomitic lithoclasts and clay minerals (illite and caolinite) are also present. Moreover discrete pyrite appears throughout the rock. Higher content in siliciclastic components are related to bioturbated areas of the rock that use to appear poorly polished. Calcimetric analyses indicate that these deficient polished areas have lower content of CO3Ca (ranging between 53.9 % and 66.6 %) whereas well polished areas are rich in CO3Ca (ranging between 82.8 % and 90 %).

Results suggest that highly polished areas are those with a homogenous distribution of bioclasts and quartz whereas poorly polished areas are those associated with the bioturbation of the sediment. Later sandy bioturbated areas have facilitated the diagenetic alteration of feldspars to clay minerals and the oxidation of pyrite, which prevent a correct polishing of the rock.



SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF MARBLE QUARRY SOURCES IN ALGERIA

R. H. TYKOT1, J. J. HERRMANN JR.2 AND A. VAN DEN HOEK3

1Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 USA; [email protected]

2Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA; [email protected]

3Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA; [email protected]

Beginning in 2005, we began the first scientific archaeological study of marble quarries and artifacts in Algeria, in order to address questions about marble production and use in the broader Mediterranean area, especially in Roman times. While many sources in Algeria and Tunisia are still exploited today, we wished to specifically investigate Roman period quarrying and use in North Africa, and both exports and imports with Italy and other areas of the Mediterranean. A poster including preliminary stable isotope data was presented on this at the ASMOSIA VIII conference in Aix-en-Provence in 2006.

Funded by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, and with the permission and assistance of the Algerian Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Energy and Mines, a more detailed survey and scientific sampling of the Algerian quarry sources was conducted in 2008, with a total now of more than 300 geological samples collected from nine localities. Samples were also obtained from many sculptural and architectural units from museums around the country. Algerian marbles occur in various shades of white and gray, with at least one source for a marble that could be considered Greco scritto, a type of white marble with black spots and intertwined veins used in Roman times for column shafts, pavements, and other architectural decorations. Several quarries of colored marble, limestone, and travertine were also sampled.

In 2008, quarries at Ain Smara, Aïn Tekbalet, Bouhanifia, Cap de Garde, Chenoua, Mahouna, Filfila, Keddel, and Kristel, were visited, and using a hand-held GPS unit, samples were collected in a systematic manner, both horizontally and vertically, in each quarry area. In the Laboratory for Archaeological Science at the University of South Florida, maximum grain size (MGS) measurements were made, and stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis was done on most samples. X-ray diffraction spectrometry or X-ray fluorescence was also conducted on many samples to determine whether they were calcitic, dolomitic, or not marble at all.

The results obtained so far clearly indicate that many Algerian sources can be distinguished from each other, and from other known Mediterranean sources, based on their visual and scientific analyses. Analyses are now being done on many archaeological samples to address the usage and importance of Algerian marble.



SAXA LUQUUNTUR – A COMPREHENSIVE INTERDISCIPLINARY INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR ANTIQUE QUARRIES AND MONUMENTS

C. UHLIR1, M. UNTERWURZACHER1, K. SCHALLER1 AND A. ZARKA2

1Archaeometry and Cultural Heritage Computing Research Group (CHC), Department of Geography and Geology, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunnerstr. 34, A-5010 Salzburg, Austria;

[email protected], [email protected] 2Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany

The provenance of monuments is often a striking question which science has to deal with. Especially petrographic and geochemical data of quarries are not or just partially published by various working groups. Often these data are hidden in ‘grey literature’ and not available to the scientific community. These data, that also include photographs and maps shall be made accessible to the entire scientific community by the interdisciplinary information system www.saxa-loquuntur.org.

The information system consists of two main databases:

a) The quarry database, containing the following parameter: general quarry information, localization, material, geological information, dating of quarrying phases, quarry morphology, signs of treatment, historic infrastructure, semi finished goods, archaeological findings, authors and literature;

b) The sample database for quarries and monuments, containing the following parameter: sample information, material, macroscopical -, microscopical -, geochemical -, X-RAY data, material technical properties, authors and literature.

Because of the flexible structure of the analytical section new methods can be included easily.

For the communication between the scientific fields of archaeology on one hand and natural sciences on the other a simplified interactive rock thesaurus was developed based on the IUGS rock nomenclature.

An interlink between the sample database to various monument databases like VBI ERAT LUPA, Hispania Epigraphica etc. is established. This link provides additional information, like archaeological and epigraphical monument description and enables a full interdisciplinary monument analysis.

The databases can be queried by simple and advanced search methods. The information system will provide visualisation tools for geochemical data, a photo board for the comparison of thin sections, and a cartographical visualisation of the search results for the area of the whole Roman Empire.

Currently, the quarry and sample database contain mainly information and data of marbles from the Alpine and Carpathian region, used in Roman times. But in the course of a well funded 5 year research project the database should be completed with quarry data available in the literature and provided by various research groups. The long time availability and keeping of data will be managed by the Bavarian State Library.



DETECTION OF BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY IN CALCAREOUS STONES BY FDA ANALYSES

M. C. USTÜNKAYA1, E.N. CANER-SALTIK2 AND A.G. GÖZEN (ÇETIN)3

1MSc in Archaeometry, Materials Conservation Lab., Faculty of Arch., METU, 06531 Ankara, Turkey; [email protected]

2Prof. Dr.,Materials Conservation Lab., Faculty of Arch. METU, 06531, Ankara , Turkey; [email protected]

3Assoc.Prof., Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Art and Science, METU, 06531, Ankara, Turkey; [email protected]

Aim of this study was to adapt a practical and efficient method on the examination of biological activity in historic limestones and marbles. For that purpose analyses of representative deteriorated stone samples from monuments and from quarries of those stones showing similar visual deterioration forms were done on limestones from Nemrut Mount Monument and its probable quarries, and on marbles from Pessinous Archaeological Site and its ancient quarry.

Examination of biofilms and biological activity on deteriorated limestone and marble samples were done by XRD analyses for determining their mineralogical composition and newly formed biominerals. Light microscopy was used for investigating the changes in mineral composition and the texture of stones on the cross and thin sections of the samples. Fluorescein diacetate (FDA) analyses were applied to the samples for qualitative and quantitative detection of biological activity. FDA analyses were adapted from studies developed for detection of soil microbial activity. Qualitative FDA analyses were done on cross sections of the samples by treating them with a phosphate buffer having pH 7.6 and staining with FDA solution in acetone followed by incubation at 30ºC. The fluorescence developed was examined under light microscope having an external fluorescent light source. Quantitative FDA analyses were carried out on grounded stone samples following the same procedure. The fluorescence developed through the hydrolysis of FDA was measured in the extracted solution of samples with spectrophotometer at 490 nm wavelength.

The results of this study showed that the biological decay was an important decay factor for historic stone monuments and ancient quarries. The results showed that the penetration of the biological activity through the stone can be up to about 1-4 cm depth. The depth of penetration varied in limestones and marbles being deeper in marbles. Results of quantitative FDA analyses were evaluated with the literature values of soil microbial activity. Biological activity on the stone surfaces was comparable with microbial activity of high quality agricultural soil and sometimes was about 1/3 of it.



ALABASTRO A PECORELLA, AÏN TEKBALET, AND BOU HANIFIA, ALGERIA

A. VAN DEN HOEK1, J. J. HERRMANN JR.2 AND R. H. TYKOT3

1Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge MA, 23 Common St., Dedham MA 02026, USA; [email protected]

2Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 23 Common St., Dedham MA 02026, USA; [email protected] 3Department of Anthropology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 USA;

[email protected]

A calcitic travertine with vivid markings of wine-red, brown, and white was used in small quantities in Roman Italy and reused for decorative panels in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Its patchy patterns were thought to resemble sheep’s wool, leading to the name ‘Alabastro a pecorella.’ Raniero Gnoli rightly suspected that the stone came from Algeria and ascribed it to the quarries of Aïn Tekbalet in western Algeria near Oran. His views have been followed by scholars ever since. A trip to these quarries, however, revealed that they produce a banded travertine that does not show the blotchy, scaly, wooly-looking patterns of Alabastro a pecorella. Long white and beige strata, in fact, predominate. A visit to the quarries of Bou Hanifia, which is also in western Algeria, but nearer to the city of Mascara, revealed, on the other hand, the characteristic colors and patterns of Alabastro a pecorella, and there can be no doubt that this was the source of that stone.

Both Aïn Tekbalet and Bou Hanifia have been heavily exploited in the Middle Ages and modern times. In spite of the popularity of these alabasters since antiquity, some traces of ancient working survive in the quarries. Unused blocks and small areas of tool marks on quarry faces can be found. Finished ancient artifacts made of stone from these sources can be identified on an optical basis in Algeria itself.

While it is certain that travertine from Bou Hanifia was exported to Italy in Antiquity, the presence there of the travertine/alabaster of Aïn Tekbalet is less certain. Some pavement slabs from villas (horti) in Rome, however, could have come from this source.

The two calcitic Algerian alabasters will also be studied isotopically, based on a systematic collection of at least twenty samples in each quarry. Attention will be given not only to providing a general characterization of each quarry but also on attempting to identify the differences (if any) in the isotopic rations of carbon and oxygen in the various bands of color. It should be noted, however, that the association of Alabastro a pecorella with Bou Hanifia is conclusive purely on an optical basis. Isotopic results may, however, be useful in confirming identifications of artifacts in the travertine of Aïn Tekbalet.



ULTRASONIC AND PETROPHYSICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF MONOLITHIC LIMESTONE PILLARS AT THE ALMAQAH TEMPLE IN SIRWAH/YEMEN

C. WEISS1, R. SOBOTT2 AND I. GERLACH3

1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Uniersität Erlangen Nürnberg, Loewenichstr. 28, 91054, Erlangen, Germany; [email protected]

2Labor für Baudenkmalpflege Naumburg, Germany 3Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Germany

The Sirwah oasis is situated in the northern Yemen highland, 40 km NW of the city Marib. Sirwah was an important city for the Sabean culture (700 – 100 BC). The Almaqah temple is one of the main buildings in the ancient city. It was built in the 7th century BC.

The entire building consists of Upper Jurassic limestones from the Amran group. The entrance area comprises two propylaea with 9 pillars which are all preserved and have a length of about 6 m. They were hewn from monolithic stones in such a way that the bedding plane edge runs parallel to the pillar axis. The pillars are in part heavily damaged and even broken into several pieces, some were removed from their original location. Fractures connected to stylolithes penetrate the limestone structure. The microfacies identifies the limestones as wacke- and packstones, partly as oolithic limestones. Cathodoluminescence shows that most of the components are re-crystallized, and the original pore space is filled by several generations of dense granular cements.

For restoration purposes petrophysical investigations were carried out and the density, water uptake, permeability, porosity, pore size distribution, and mechanical properties were measured. The fairly dense limestones (density 2,0 to 2,6 g/cm3) have low porosities, the mean pore space diameters range between 0,5 and 1.5 µm. Stones of very high quality show no signs of weathering after about three thousand years of exposure

Horizontal stylolithes are a weak point in the stone fabric and may be the cause for stability problems. They are oriented parallel to the bedding and can form dense networks depending on the microfacies type. Mudstones contain stylolithes with low amplitudes and short extensions while mud-free facies types contain stylolithes with high amplitudes and long extensions. On the stylolithe surfaces insoluble residue can be enriched. Compressive strength measurements show a high difference between stylolithe zones and the massive parts of the stones. The average compressive strengths of the massive stones range between 55 and 75 N/mm2 and can reach peak values of 135 N/mm². In the stylolithe zones the compressive strength is reduced to 28 to 45 N/mm2.

In order to assess the risk of mechanical failure of the pillars due to the stylolithe systems ultrasonic measurements were performed. From the ultrasonic signal two informations related to the mechanical state of the stone were evaluated: the running time and the amplitude of the p-wave. For the massive unfractured limestone the average p-wave velocity ranges between 5,9 to 6,3 km/s. If the stone fabric contains closed stylolithes the p-wave velocity is reduced to 5.4 to 5.6 km/s and the amplitude is distinctly attenuated. In the case of open stylolithes or cracks two possible effects were observed: depending on the fracture size either the p-wave velocity assumes values below 4 km/s and the amplitude is very strongly reduced or no signal is recorded at all.

In many cases it is not possible to see open cracks on the pillar surfaces. Ultrasonic measurements carried out in a quasi-tomographic way were very helpful to detect such weak points in the structure. The accuracy of information depends on the grid size for the ultrasonic measurements per level.



PROVENANCE OF MARBLE STATUARY FROM LAODICEA ON THE SEA (LATAKIA IN SYRIA)

D. WIELGOSZ

Polish Archaeological Mission in Palmyra, University of Warsaw Centre for Archaeological Sciences, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit

Leuven (Belgium)

Very little is known on Graeco-Roman Laodicea, one of the major foundations of Seleukos I Nicator in the Northern Syria at the end of the 4th century BC. Together with Antioch on the Orontes, Seleucia in Pieria and Apamea on the Orontes, it constituted the Syrian Tetrapolis. Laodicea emerged as one of the most important cities of the Hellenistic Syria and it flourished during the Roman Empire. Some notions about the glorious time of this important Mediterranean harbour can be deducted from the narrative of ancient sources, such as for instance Strabo, Appian or Malalas. The archaeological excavations and evidence are very limited due to the successive occupation of the city over the centuries; only a few monuments from its past are known today. Among them are six marble sculptures preserved in the National Museum of Damascus. They were carefully carved in Graeco-Roman style. Some are excellent copies of the Greek masterpieces from the Classical time, such as for instance a copy of Poliklet’s Doryphoros.

In order to identify the origin of the marble used for these sculptures, an archaeometric study has been carried out at the Centre for Archaeological Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven. The analysis points to a variety of marble quarry sources including Mount Pentelikon, Paros and Prokonnesos.

The import of marble artifacts into Laodicea (sculptures as well as a vast amount of the architectural elements) was probably in part related to its reconstruction during the Severan period. The city was seriously damaged by Pescennius Niger during his usurpation in AD 193. Having defeated Pescennius Niger, Septimius Sever elevated Laodicea to the rank of metropolis and colonia with ius Italicum and promoted its reconstruction and new urbanization in sign of his gratitude for the loyalty of the city.



A NEW SOURCE OF BIGIO ANTICO MARBLES: THE ANCIENT QUARRIES OF IZNIK (TURKEY)

A.B. YAVUZ1 M. BRUNO2 AND D. ATTANASIO3

1D.E.Ü Engineering Faculty, Geological Engineering Dept., İzmir, Turkey; [email protected] 2Via del Pellegrino 130, 00186, Rome, Italy; [email protected]

3ISM-CNR, P.O.Box 10, 00016 Monterotondo Staz., Roma, Italy; [email protected]

The roman theatre of İznik (ancient Nicea), whose main structure was entirely built using solid blocks of grey marble, strongly suggests that a large supply source may exist in the vicinity of the city. Following local information, in fact, three large Bigio Antico quarry districts could be easily located on the hills NE of İznik, some 2 km from the city centre. The first district, Sarikaya, includes two large quarries, one still working and the other especially huge known locally as Deliktaş (‘the pierced stone’). The other two extraction districts are located more to the east and include 2 and 13 .different quarries, respectively. The number of the existing districts and the large size of some of the quarries, suggest that the marble, beside being used for the city needs, was very probably exported elsewhere.

Deliktaş, with its working fronts approximately 200 m long and 50 m high, is certainly among the most impressive İznik quarries. At the lower level of the quarry front an almost life size unfinished relief, representing Herakles leaning against its club in front of an altar was discovered. Its exceptional size, not comparable with that of other quarry reliefs discovered at Thasos, Paros and elsewhere, attests the importance of the shrine and probably of the site itself.

The İznik stone is a granoblastic textured and coarse grained marble, grey to dark grey in colour, heavily sprinkled with whitish spots and veins. Rather similar to the Lesbos marble, the best known and most widespread Bigio Antico used in the antiquity, it differs from the latter for the almost complete absence of fossils.

The İznik marble was used not only for the theatre structure, but also for the production of architectural elements (column capitals, shafts and bases), sarcophagai and relieves, as attested by the objects in the local Museum and several items on display in the İzmit museum (the ancient and renowned marble trade centre of Nicomedia). Preliminary archaeometric data fully confirm the above assumptions based on visual inspection and attest that the Bigio antico of Nicea was certainly used at least on a larger regional area.



THE ANCIENT QUARRY OF PAGANI IN LESBOS ISLAND

G. ZACHOS AND E. LEKA

20th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Sapfous 22, 811 00 Mytilene, Greece; [email protected], [email protected]

The ancient quarry of Pagani is localized on a small hill over the Gulf of Gera 2,5km west of the city of Mytilene on Lesbos Island. It is a small though well defined quarry of gray marble and belongs to the same geological unit with the well known quarry of Moria, 6 km Northwest of Mytilene. Extended oblique tool marks are very well preserved on large quarry faces, unfinished architectural parts (blocks and unfluted columns) are visible on the quarry’s site or scattered over the hill, and the remains of the quarrying procedure have covered all the area. The quarry was in use during the Late Roman period as it is proved by the surface pottery finds and could be connected with the widespread, well known by the ancient sources and modern bibliography, use of the marmor Lesbium during the Roman and Late Roman / Early Byzantine period.



CHARACTERIZATION OF THE STONE USED IN AN OPUS SECTILE PAVEMENT POLLENTIA (ALCUDIA, MALLORCA, SPAIN)

C. MAS1, M. A. CAU1, Mª E. CHÁVEZ1, M. ORFILA1, A. ÀLVAREZ2, I. RODÀ2, A. GUTIÉRREZ GARCIA-M. 2 AND A. DOMÈNECH2

1Pollentia research team, Pollentia archaeological site, Sant Jaume, 30, 07400 Alcúdia, Mallorca, Spain; [email protected], [email protected]

2Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC), Pl. Rovellat s/n, 43004, Tarragona, Spain; [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

The marine city of Pollentia (Alcudia-Majorca, Spain), with status of colony, as mentioned by Mela (Chorographia, II, 124-125), was most important one of the Balearic Islands during early and late Roman times.

The research developed since the first excavations at early 20th century, to the present time, has brought to the light the Forum area, with several temples and one insula of tabernae, a residential district with three domus, the theatre, several necropolis and at least two sections of two walls, among others remains. The recent works in the Forum have allowed to understand the urban organisation and to obtain a complete stratigraphic sequence of its occupation. The chronology spans from the around the decades of the 70-60 BC until the end of the 3rd century AD, when a great fire destroyed the town, although it was soon reconstructed and continued to be occupied, as a citadel, until the end of Late Antiquity.

Among the recent results, the discovery of a large building in the eastern sector of the forum stands out. Even though it is still in study, its dimensions suggest that, until the time being, it must be considered the most important building of the area, only after the capitoline temple.

An opus sectile pavement, on a small waiting room or corridor, with a transversal orientation according to the main axis of the building, occupies roughly 4,50 m (east to west) and almost 3 m (north to south). This pavement presents a simple geometric slate scheme, combining hexagonal (black/gray dark) with equilateral marble triangles (white), which form six-ends stars. This composition is obtained by repeating in nine parallel lines, a scheme based on rotation of a hexagon and two triangles faced by one of its vertices. The preparation of the mosaic suggests a terminus post quem of the change of era or 1st century DC.

The petrographic characterization of the stones used in this opus sectile showed that they despite the presence of dark slate at the nearby island of Menorca, the slate used at the opus sectile do not belong to these formations neither to the ones from the Pyrenees. At the same time, the archaeometric analysis demonstrated that the white crustae were made of an oolitic limestone whose origin could not be yet pinpointed.

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