Marine bivalves colonizing Roman artefacts recovered in the Gulf of Pozzuoli and in the Blue Grotto in Capri (Naples, Italy): Boring and nestling species

Impact of the sipunculan Aspidosiphon muelleri Diesing, 1851 on calcareous underwater Cultural Heritage

“…The presence of burrows in tesserae and mortar, both of carbonatic composition, was related to the ability of sipunculans to bore calcareous substrata using mechanical and chemical processes (Rice, 1969;Rice and McIntyre, 1972;Williams and Margolis, 1974). The mechanical action is carried out using abrasive structures present on the caudal shield that are rubbed against the sides of the burrows (Rice, 1969); although no specific chemical agents had still been identified, there were evidences that epidermal glands are responsible for the production of substances (probably chelating agents or acids) that modify the structure of calcareous substrata (Williams and Margolis, 1974).…”

“…The phylum Sipuncula comprises approximately 367 species and subspecies, very adaptable to a range of temperatures and depths, living from the intertidal zone to À7000 m (Cutler, 1994;PancucciPapadopoulou et al, 1999). They usually live in burrows in sandy, muddy or silty bottoms (Cutler, 1994;Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al, 1999;Ferrero-Vicente et al, 2011) or inside vacant shells, tubes of polychaetes (Cutler, 1994;Harlan, 2001;Ferrero-Vicente et al, 2011), foraminifera tests, or even empty barnacles (Cutler, 1994); there are evidences of several species capable to bore hard carbonatic substrata such as corals, shells and rocks (Rice, 1969;Harlan, 2001) or even decaying whale skulls (Gibbs, 1987). For this reason submerged limestone and marble archaeological artefacts (i.e.…”

“…muelleri inhabits depths from 5 to 2900 m, in the Mediterranean sea the maximum depth is 1262 m; this species usually lives inside empty mollusc shells (Cutler, 1994;Pancucci-Papadopoulou et al, 1999) but there are evidences of its ability to bore into carbonatic substrata such as dead corals (Murina, 1984;PeyrotClausade and Brunel, 1990;Ballesteros, 2006;Fonseca et al, 2006), mollusc shells (Trigui El-Menif et al, 2005, hard rocks (Rice and McIntyre, 1972;Rice, 1976;Murina, 1984), and particularly chalk rocks (Por, 1975).…”

“…The aim of this study is to define the role of boring sipunculans in the biodeterioration of submerged artefacts; it extends the knowledge in the field of bioerosion that, so far, has focused on other taxa of biodeteriogens e sponges, bivalves, polychaetes and microborers (Davidde et al, 2010;Ricci et al, 2008Ricci et al, , 2013Ricci et al, , 2015.…”

Aspects of Biodeterioration of Lapideous Submerged Artefacts: 3d Methodologies Application

“…Studies conducted until today have examined artefacts still in situ (mosaic floors made of opus sectile and wall structures) and artefacts recovered from the seabed (fragments of statues and marble slabs). The results have shown the dangerous biological activity explicated by different groups of endolithic biodeteriogens able to perforate the stone (Ricci et al, 2007;Ricci et al, 2008aRicci et al, , 2008bDavidde et al, 2010;Ricci and Davidde, 2012;Ricci et al, 2013;Ricci et al, 2014). The aim of this paper is to illustrate problems related to bioerosion phenomena of submerged archaeological artefacts and to present some potential application of 3D visualization techniques in this field of study.…”