A Preliminary Evaluation of Chemical Data (Trace Element) From Classical Marble Quarries in the Mediterranean

Conforto, L.; Felici, M.; Monna, D.; Serva, Leonello; Taddeucci, A.

doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.1975.tb00134.x

Cited by 45 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…This makes the identification of marble considerably more difficult in cases where just one small sample is available. The study of Conforto et al (1975), which examined only marbles of Anatolian and Italian origin and determined their contents in terms of eight trace elements (K, Fe, Mn, Si, Ba, Al, Sr and Ti), has given partial results, similar to those of the preceding technique, and has thus enabled us to characterize certain quarries with respect to others. But ultimately, the limits of a method of identification that is based on the determination of oligo-elements lie in the fact that their interval of variation is frequently the same for samples from different Rend.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

Antonelli

Lazzarini

2015

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

108

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The identification of the quarry of provenance of ancient marble artefacts is, on the one hand, of the utmost interest to archaeologists and art historians, on the other hand, one of the most debated problems of petro-archaeometry. Scholars of different disciplines (geosciences, chemistry, physics) have been trying for more than a century such identification by means of a unique or multiple laboratory analysis without totally positive results in absence of non-destructive techniques. To date, the best probabilities of success are obtained by combining together at least two analytical methodologies and jointly processing all the data obtained. In particular, the detailed minero-petrographic examination of a thin section and the determination of the C and O stable isotopic ratios on the same sample is currently the most widely used and reliable combination. Such a combination takes advantage of the most updated existing databases for the main Mediterranean marbles very commonly used in classical antiquity. On the basis of a complete scrutiny of the recent literature data published from 2002 to 2012, we propose here an upgrade and reorganization on a geographic base of the petrographic and isotopic databanks based on hundreds of analyses relative to the marbles from the major and some minor quarries active in Greek and Roman times. These new data allow to increase the statistical significance of the whole database and draw new global reference isotopic diagrams related to the maximum grain size (MGS) of the different marbles proving very useful to better determining the provenance of a given archaeological/historical marble objects

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

Antonelli

Lazzarini

2015

Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei

108

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“…Many studies of the provenance of ancient marbles have been performed thanks to several procedures, including trace elements [6], cathodoluminescence [7,8], electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy [9,10], strontium isotopic distribution [11] and chemical analysis of inclusion fluids [12]. However, mineralogical and petrographic investigations, as well as carbon and oxygen stable isotope analyses, are more often used for these purposes .…”

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confidence: 99%

Provenance and compositional analysis of marbles from the medieval Abbey of San Caprasio, Aulla (Tuscany, Italy)

et al. 2012

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A compositional study of twenty-two marble artefacts from the medieval Benedictine Abbey of San Caprasio at Aulla (North-western Tuscany, Central Italy) has been carried out. The mineralogical and petrographic analyses, the estimation of the maximum grain size of the calcite crystals, and the determination of carbon and oxygen stable isotopes support a provenance of most marbles from the Apuan Alps quarries (Italy). Only some marbles indicate a probable provenance from the islands of Paros and Thasos in the eastern Mediterranean area

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“…The Sr contents are significantly lower than those of both types of marbles used in the architecture of the Belevi mausoleum and also of the marbles from the other Ephesian quarries presented in this paper. In previous works different authors have reported similar low Sr contents in some Ephesian marbles (Conforto et al. 1975; Lazzarini et al.…”

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confidence: 70%

A New Method for the Determination of the Provenance of White Marbles by Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids: The Marbles of the Mausoleum of Belevi/Turkey*

Prochaska

Grillo

2009

Archaeometry

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A new method is presented in this paper to pinpoint the origin of white marbles using the chemical analysis of fluids occurring as micro‐inclusions in calcitic or dolomitic marbles. Beside the conventional methods usually applied for this purpose, the analyses of significant anions and cations in fluids extracted from white marbles were used to characterize different types of marbles. Using this new approach it is possible to distinguish different groups of marbles which cannot be separated isotopically. A case study was performed on the mausoleum of Belevi, close to Ephesus in Turkey, and the quarries in the area of the mausoleum. The marbles used for the architecture of the mausoleum cannot be distinguished isotopically but were split into two groups when using fluid inclusion analysis. The corresponding quarry for the high‐quality marble (cella walls, columns etc.) turned out to be the Kentli Çiftli?i quarry, which also supplied the marbles for the classical Artemision. According to the chemical and fluid data it can be shown, however, that neither the adjacent famous antique quarry of Belevi nor the underground mine of Kusini, some 5 km away from the mausoleum, are the sources for the marbles used for the construction or decoration of the mausoleum.

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A Preliminary Evaluation of Chemical Data (Trace Element) From Classical Marble Quarries in the Mediterranean

Cited by 45 publications

References 2 publications

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

An updated petrographic and isotopic reference database for white marbles used in antiquity

Provenance and compositional analysis of marbles from the medieval Abbey of San Caprasio, Aulla (Tuscany, Italy)

A New Method for the Determination of the Provenance of White Marbles by Chemical Analysis of Inclusion Fluids: The Marbles of the Mausoleum of Belevi/Turkey*

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