Characterization of archaeological mortars from Herculaneum

Leone, Gemma; Vita, Alessandra De; Magnani, Agnese; Rossi, Claudio

doi:10.1016/j.tca.2015.12.003

Cited by 31 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Historical sources refer to the use of mortars as building materials in tanks, walls, aqueducts, wells, and duct drains, as support pavements and mosaics, and as plasters in external and internal walls [1][2][3]. They are complex systems which contain air or hydraulic binders or a mixture of both, aggregates (not always crystalline), and additives that interact with the binder.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineralogical Analysis of Mortars in the Walls of Ávila (Spain) and Its Surroundings

García

Giménez

2019

Minerals

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The present article evaluated the mineralogical composition of 85 mortar samples from some emblematic monuments of Ávila city (Spain), which were collected during the restoration of the monuments. The aim of this article is to try to extract the relationship between the composition and the origin of the raw materials, as well as to identify possible alterations in the samples. The study of the samples was carried out using visual and petrographic techniques such as stereoscopic microscope, XRD, and SEM/EDX analysis. The main components of the mortars were calcite, feldspar and quartz, although small amounts of phyllosilicates were also identified. The minerals of the mortars came from the surroundings of the city, and some of the samples presented evident alteration of the original materials due to humidity, salt concentration, and biological weathering, possibly inducted by unfortunate effects of the restoration. Finally, a study of the salts present in some mortars showed that most samples display contamination of soluble salts such as halite, thenardite, hexaedrite, and carnalite. This investigation offers fresh insight into historic building activity and related techniques, and should provide knowledge useful for restoration and conservation processes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mineralogical Analysis of Mortars in the Walls of Ávila (Spain) and Its Surroundings

García

Giménez

2019

Minerals

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“…Water loss occurring below 200 • C corresponds to some water adsorbed and the loss of water from hydrated salts. Between 200 • C and 600 • C, that loss corresponds to the structural water of hydraulic compounds present in the samples [6,23,24]. The degree of hydraulicity of a sample can be calculated by the ratio between the CO 2 loss above 600 • C and the water loss of the hydraulic compounds, occurring between 200 • C and 600 • C. The higher the value obtained by the CO 2 /H 2 O ratio, the lower the hydraulicity of the mortar is, being referenced that ratios greater than 10 are considered as typical lime mortars, values between 4 and 10 are hydraulic mortars, and values below 3 can be considered as pozzolan; sometimes, rations between 3.5 and 6 are considered as moderately hydraulic [6,9,23].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Case Study of the Medieval Town Walls of Gubbio in Italy: First Results on the Characterization of Mortars and Binders

et al. 2018

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Good conservation and restoration practices of cultural heritage assets rely on the knowledge of original materials. In the framework of the HERACLES Project (HERACLES-HEritage Resilience Against CLimate Events on Site, H2020 Grant Agreement 700395), dealing with the effects of climatic actions and natural hazards on built heritage, a set of important heritage sites are currently under study to improve their resilience against climate events. Among these are the medieval Gubbio Town Walls in Italy. The present work focuses on the mortars and binders of this monument and collected samples related to different parts of the Walls, corresponding to various historical periods of construction and interventions. They were characterized to determine their minerochemical composition, thermal behavior, and morphology. For that purpose, ex-situ laboratory techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF), optical microscopy (OM), polarized light microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and simultaneous differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetry (TG-DTA) were used to discern trends in different sampling areas due to construction/reconstruction periods and building techniques.

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“…All other samples (sampled from Fourth Style plasters) had thermographs characterized by several straight peaks in the region 300–600 °C (as already observed for samples OP4 and OP9). Among them, four samples—that is, OP11, OP17, OP22 and OP24—also showed a small peak centred at about 114 °C, thus suggesting the presence of sulphates (Leone et al ). XRF was performed on these samples, confirming a significant presence of sulphur (i.e., OP11, 6550 ± 326; OP17, 8359 ± 416; OP22, 26 831 ± 1602; OP24, 67 223 ± 1540; values expressed as ppm; n = 3).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal and Petrographic Characterization of Herculaneum Wall Plasters

Leone

Vita²,

Magnani

et al. 2016

Archaeometry

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Roman plasters sampled from different houses at the archaeological site of Herculaneum, Italy, (2010–12) were studied by means of petrography, thermal analysis and X‐ray fluorescence. Herculaneum plasters are composed by preparatory layers (arriccio) with a thickness of several centimetres and are based on a calcitic binder and volcanic scoriae as aggregates, covered by a thin final layer characterized by a low granulometry. Most of the sampled plasters can be placed into two groups based on the aggregate composition and classified as marmorino or intonachino. However, a similar aggregate composition did not induce superimposable thermal behaviour, thus suggesting that the samples underwent different ageing/weathering processes, with a consequent change of the ratio among the components.

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Characterization of archaeological mortars from Herculaneum

Cited by 31 publications

References 23 publications

Mineralogical Analysis of Mortars in the Walls of Ávila (Spain) and Its Surroundings

Mineralogical Analysis of Mortars in the Walls of Ávila (Spain) and Its Surroundings

The Case Study of the Medieval Town Walls of Gubbio in Italy: First Results on the Characterization of Mortars and Binders

Thermal and Petrographic Characterization of Herculaneum Wall Plasters

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