Archaeometric Characterisation of Decorated Pottery from the Archaeological Site of Villa dei Quintili (Rome, Italy): Preliminary Study

Abstract

This work focused on the study of decorated pottery dated back to the 16th century from the Roman archaeological site of Villa dei Quintili, a monumental complex located in the south-eastern part of Rome (Italy). A minero-petrographic and geochemical study was undertaken to analyse five archaeological samples in order to define textural features and raw materials used for their production, along with the chemical and physical composition of the superficial decorative glazed coatings. For this purpose, different analytical methods were used, such as polarising optical microscope (POM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-Ray fluorescence (XRF), and electron microprobe analysis coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (EMPA-EDS). The results of such a multidisciplinary approach allowed us to achieve important results crucial to recognise the shards as majolica of the Renaissance period, improving knowledge about manufacturing processes of these renowned painted ceramic artefacts.

Multi-Analytical Research on the Caisson Painting of Dayu Temple in Hancheng, Shaanxi, China

“…This study aimed to use the multivariate analysis method to analyze and test the wooden board base, paper type, acidification degree, surface pigment, etc., of the caisson paintings of Dayu Temple in Hancheng, as the basis for analyzing the cause of the deterioration and the design of plans for restoration and protection. The scientific analysis of cultural relics is gaining momentum, as it provides a rich source of fundamental information for art history and conservation [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. There are largescale collective efforts to preserve cultural artifacts through the multidisciplinary evaluation of material properties, so that these can be better studied and protected in the future.…”

Aqua Traiana, a Roman Infrastructure Embedded in the Present: The Mineralogical Perspective

“…Important information can be obtained by the analysis of the materials these societies produced. In this perspective, archaeometry has recently paid increasing attention to the mineralogical and chemical study of geomaterials [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] to reconstruct technological knowledge and skills acquired by ancient populations.…”

Non-Invasive Approach to Investigate the Mineralogy and Production Technology of the Mosaic Tesserae from the Roman Domus of Villa San Pancrazio (Taormina, Italy)

“…According to the cited requirements, the combination of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Raman spectroscopy has been so far largely exploited since it allows the non-destructive collection of a large amount of data in a relatively short time providing, at the same time, high chemical specificity [14][15][16]. In this sense, a variety of archaeometric studies [17] have shown the benefits of the synergic combination of the above techniques as a powerful tool for a reliable characterization of the most common matrices found in archaeological excavations such as metals [9,18], pigments [19][20][21], mirrors [22], stones [23,24], ceramics [25,26] or glasses [8,27,28]. Among them, literature reports specifically dealing with mosaics which evidenced that XRF and Raman spectroscopy were successfully exploited not only to characterize bulk materials, but also to robustly identify trace components related, for instance, to a natural stone color, or compounds used as flux, or even dyes and opacifiers present within the tesserae matrix [24,29].…”