Archeometria

The paper is a study on the painting technique of Mantegna's The Madonna from the Accademia Carrara - one of the few surviving examples of distempers that Mantegna painted at a certain extent, in his career. Many of them were severely damaged by wrong restoration treatments.

Ravenna represented an important administrative, commercial and cultural centre in the fifth and sixth centuries. The present study explored the commercial mechanisms of Ravenna in Late Antiquity from the point of view of the marble trade, as well as the trade in other architectural elements. A portion of the research is based on the macroscopic and quantitative study of stone materials (around 1000 fragments) from the Late Antique and medieval complex of San Severo in Classe (Ravenna, Italy). The results indicated that the predominant commercial relationships of Ravenna with respect to stone artefacts (marbles, limestones, porphyry, breccia, granites) were orientated mainly towards the regions of Asia Minor, with some trade also occurring in minor quantities with North Africa, Greece, Italy, and France. Three representative marble samples were analysed to make determinations of their provenance. The methods used were based upon a combination of petrographic image analysis, polarizing and cathodoluminescence microscopy of thin sections, and stable isotope geochemistry of carbonates. The Proconnesos and, eventually, other Turkish provenance of the selected samples is considered.

L’archeologo del XXI secolo non vive più di solo studio e scavo. Oggi la moderna ricerca impone di affiancare al lavoro in cantiere e ai libri in biblioteca modi sempre nuovi di indagare, comunicare e gestire l’antico. Bastano un po’ di fantasia, versatilità e intraprendenza per dare vita, da archeologo, alle attività più disparate. Come hanno fatto i 34 professionisti che si raccontano in Archeostorie: c’è chi cura un museo e chi gestisce un’area archeologica, chi narra il passato ai bambini e chi lo “fa vedere” ai ciechi, chi usa nel racconto le tecnologie e i linguaggi più diversi e persino i videogame; c’è poi chi ricostruisce l’antico in 3D e chi lo sperimenta dal vivo, chi organizza i dati di scavo e chi li rende disponibili per tutti; c’è chi scrive sui giornali e chi parla di archeologia alla radio o in tivù, chi realizza documentari e chi racconta l’archeologia sui social network; c’è ancora chi punta sul marketing e chi sul crowdfunding, chi fa dell’archeologia un’esperienza per tutti e chi difende le bellezze da furti e scempi. C’è anche chi studia e scava, e nel libro descrive la vita vera di studio e scavo al di là dei miti e dei sogni.
Il risultato è un manuale non convenzionale che offre spunti originali e concreti agli archeologi del futuro in cerca di reali possibilità di occupazione. Una sorta di bottega artigiana dove apprendere i segreti del mestiere, o meglio dei mestieri, che un’archeologia nuova, pragmatica e ancorata nel presente può ispirare.

This paper presents the results of an archaeometric study performed on white marbles from the shipwreck of
Cala Cicala (Crotone, Calabria, Italy). The stone materials, especially the white marbles, are an excellent tool for
reconstructing the trade routes of the past and studying the relationships between ancient populations. The
purposes of this study were to establish the provenance of the white marbles of the shipwreck of Cala Cicala
(Crotone, Calabria, Southern Italy) and to use analysis of their composition to acquire more knowledge about
trade routes in the Roman imperial age. The 35 samples of white marble were studied by X-ray diffraction
(XRPD), optical microscopy (OM), and isotopic analysis. All of the archaeometric data collected
indicate that the marble blocks in the cargos are from the Greek island of Thasos, in the northern Aegean Sea.

The castle of Miranduolo (Municipality of Chiusdino, Province of Siena, Italy) is a long-term medieval settlement, starting in the 7th  century and definitively abandoned around the mid 14th century. Excavations led by the University of Siena between 2001 and 2016, yielded important information for a better understanding of the postclassical settlement network formation processes in rural Tuscany. Metallurgy represents a constant economic factor for the whole lifespan of the site. In fact, Miranduolo was founded during the 7th century with an exclusive economic specialization, entirely centred on the exploitation of the local iron ores. A complex mining system has been identified on the northern part of the hill, while a large and composite metallurgic area, with several structures involving the whole production cycle, was uncovered on the southern slopes. Evidence of iron reduction continues also in the 8th century, when the settlement’s economic focus changes drastically towards an agricultural enterprise led by emerging local elites. A first set of archaeometric analyses, using SEM-EDS techniques on a sample of slags, has been carried out in order to explore quality and composition of the exploited iron ores. The preliminary results are presented in this paper, showing that at least two different types of mineral, both pertaining to a local basin, were used in the site’s Early Medieval production areas.

This volume presents the results of the Marmora Phrygiae Project, financed by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR – Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca) as part of the “Futuro in Ricerca” programme (FIRB 2012). In the period 2013-2016, following a multidisciplinary approach, the project sought to reconstruct the building stone procurement strategies adopted in the city of Hierapolis in Phrygia (Turkey), across a broad chronological time span from the Hellenistic epoch to the Byzantine period. Extensive knowledge of the territory surrounding the city and detailed research into its monuments provided the basis for a painstaking historical reconstruction. The volume describes the economic, social, technological and legal aspects of the use of marble and presents the results of the archaeometric investigations that were conducted in order to characterise the building stones, determine their provenance and assess the state of conservation of the monuments. In addition, the volume illustrates recent research conducted by teams of various nationalities into the marble quarrying districts and monumental complexes of the main settlements of south-western Asia Minor in the Imperial and Byzantine epochs.

“Storie (di) Ceramiche” è una giornata di studi dedicata alla memoria di Graziella Berti, studiosa di ceramica medievale e figura importante per gli studi storici sulla Pisa medievale e moderna, venuta a mancare l’11 Giugno del 2013.
Questa occasione, giunta alla sua quarta edizione, vuole ricordarla nella maniera che lei stessa avrebbe apprezzato di più: attraverso i temi a lei cari, l’innovazione della ricerca e le nuove generazioni di studiosi.

La quarta edizione, svoltasi il 10 Giugno 2017 a Pisa, a quattro anni dalla scomparsa della studiosa, è stata dedicata al tema “Ceramica e Archeometria” intendendo in questa maniera ricordare l’impegno della studiosa verso l’applicazione dei metodi archeometrici per gli studi ceramologici, comprendendone il grande potenziale e collaborando molte volte con Tiziano Mannoni e Claudio Capelli proprio su queste tematiche.
Gli studi inseriti in questo volume, e presentati nel corso della quarta giornata di studi, analizzano l’archeometria quale sistema per poter comprenderne in maniera maggiormente approfondita aspetti tecnologici e di utilizzo della ceramica medievale e moderna, e per poter trarre informazioni utili a rispondere a interrogativi storico-archeologici. In essi è possibile cogliere le potenzialità di differenti ricerche archeometriche applicate alla ceramica in cui si cerca di superare la dicotomia tra studi umanistici e scientifici, permettendo ai dati raccolti attraverso fonti di tipo diverso di interfacciarsi tra loro al fine di ricostruire la storia.

Between 2010 and 2015, the Royal Palace of Palermo was the subject of several scientific investigations, with diagnostic, archaeometric and archaeological purposes. Among the different outcomes, these surveys allowed us to acquire new data on stratigraphy of the subsoil in this area. In particular, recent observations and geological surveys allowed us to identify a heretofore unknown litho-stratigraphic unit attributable to the Middle Pleistocene of marine polymictic para-conglomerates and well-cemented calcarenites, which indeed constitutes the geological substratum of rock (paleo-soil) on which the Royal Palace is founded. The same material was quarried in situ and employed in the Hellenistic period (3 rd century BC) for the strengthening of the defensive walls of the Punic era (5 th century BC).

Excavations in Risan (ancient Risinium), situated in Montenegro, since 2001 have been
carried out by a mission from the Center for Research on the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe,
University of Warsaw, directed by Piotr Dyczek. Laboratory analyses (chemical analysis by WDXRF,
MGR-analysis, thin-sections study) were carried out on 112 fragments of black-coated Late
Classic and Hellenistic pottery. The main aim of laboratory analyses was to identify provenance
groups. The majority of the samples come from a region very probably within present-day Albania
where clay with high contents of magnesium, chrome and nickel occurs.

Az avar kori baltafélék és fokosok közül eddig csak egy L alakú bárdon végeztek anyagvizsgálatot, ezért döntöttünk úgy, hogy további típusokat, illetve altípusokat is vizsgálunk: fokosbaltát, T alakú bárdot és kettősfokost. Célunk a készítéstechnológiára vonatkozó következtetések levonása volt. Az elektronmikroszkópos archeometriai anyagvizsgálatot a székesfehérvári Szent István Király Múzeum megbízásából a Miskolci Egyetem Archeometallurgiai Kutatócsoportja (ARGUM) végezte el egy Úrhida – Arany János utca 87. sírjából származó T alakú fokosbárdon, ugyanezen lelőhely 56. sírjából származó fokosbaltán és az Előszállás – Öreghegy 25. sírjának mellékletét képező kettősfokoson.

La necropoli di Macchie Don Cesare nel territorio di Salve (LE) ha aggiunto nuovi dati alla conoscenza dei costumi funerari dell’eneolitico meridionale: ha rivelato, infatti, la pratica dell’incinerazione sotto tumulo affermatasi tra la metà del IV e il III millennio a.C.
I tumuli di Salve, fatti di terra e di pietre, ricoprivano monumenti realizzati con tipologie diverse, alcuni con articolazioni complesse al loro interno, altri molto semplici costituiti solo da una piattaforma basale su cui poggiavano i vasi con i resti incinerati o questi stessi sparsi sulla superficie, privi di contenitori. In nessuno dei tumuli era presente il corredo.
Ma, accanto all’incinerazione, nella necropoli è attestato anche l’uso dell’inumazione come nei tumuli 6, 9 e 7: nei primi due si trattava di ossa non combuste; nel tumulo 7, invece, all’interno di una cista litica che pure conteneva alla base tre incinerati, erano stati deposti circa 50 individui in seguito sottoposti a manipolazioni. Essi, a differenza degli incinerati avevano con sé il corredo i cui componenti, vasi in ceramica e oggetti di ornamento, sono molto simili a quelli rinvenuti a Grotta Cappuccini di Galatone.
E’ un quadro composito quello che restituisce la necropoli di Salve: documenta la pluralità di tradizioni esistente tra comunità che vivevano nel medesimo territorio e che condividevano la medesima cultura ispirata ai canoni di Gaudo e Laterza.
L’architettura dei tumuli, inoltre, rinvia a modelli diffusi che – se pure con tipologie varie – caratterizzavano il paesaggio funerario di molte regioni europee, inserendo il Salento in quel “mondo interconnesso” che era l’Europa del III millennio a.C.
Geomorfologia, paleobotanica, antropologia, analisi archeometriche contribuiscono a ricostruire una visione d’insieme in cui la dimensione funeraria risulta ancorata a dati di realtà che ne affiancano gli aspetti ideologici.
Non ultima, la cronologia: la serie di datazioni ottenuta dai vari tumuli fornisce importanti aggiornamenti sull’eneolitico meridionale, spostandone l’insorgenza alla metà del IV millennio in linea con quanto avviene nel resto della penisola.

This communication aims to present the information concerning the identification of furniture and know-how originally from eastern Mediterranean in Corsica through Middle Bronze Age (1600-1200 b.C.) and Late Bronze Age (1200-800 b.C.).
In this island, the question of the presence of Aegean elements was, for a long time, associated to a theory involving a foreign-born population, the Sherden, a group mentioned within the famous Sea Peoples. After the abandonment of these historic-factual constructions, the insular archaeological research attached itself to the analysis of the sociocultural character of insular groups from the Bronze Age, without trying to connect them to the cultural dynamics from eastern Mediterranean.
After three decades of scientific introspection, it seems important to propose a postponed inventory on this specific issue. The issue of relations between the Aegean and Near-Eastern areas is documented today by several discoveries, revisions on objects and specific analysis made for fifteen years. In the early 2000s, the first formal testimony of the eastern importation recognized in Corsica is a copper ingot of ox-hide typology and Cypriot origin, found out of context in Sant’Anastasia, in the northeast area of the island. This object, published by F. Lo Schiavo, illustrates the integration at least marginal of Corsica into the Mediterranean networks of metal distribution in the late second millennium. This discovery thereby came to partially fulfill an important gap in research, particularly illustrated by the strong contrast expressed by the number of remains of this type between Corsica and Sardinia. At the same time, the realization of analysis (laser ablation coupled to mass spectrometry) on vitreous furniture unearthed during ancient excavations of the sites of Foce, Tiresa and Filitosa permitted to set the context of production, revealing the near-eastern origin of the materials. 
More recently, the discovery of a set of ornaments in connection in a sepulchral context of the late Middle Bronze at the site of Campu Stefanu (southwest) allowed obtaining of one of the largest repositories for this type of production throughout the western Mediterranean. This necklace is composed by 25 blue-glass beads of Near-Eastern origin, even Egyptian, and of 29 Baltic amber beads of Aegean typology, which show, in addition, a perfect physical, chemical and morphological superposition with isolated beads from contemporary sepulchral contexts of Sardinia. In this context, the formal non-recognition of Helladic crockery in Corsica, while several cases are known and published in Nuragic area, seems to be explained by a delay in research.
Besides these direct testimonies betraying the importation of exotic prestige goods in Corsica between the fourteenth and the twelfth centuries, recent achievements illustrate the existence of technical transfers between the island and the Mycenaean world around the middle and late second millennium. These phenomena are notably materialized by the strong technical and iconographic analogies observed during repoussé work in metal foils. The matrices recognized in Corsica present indeed profound occurrences with those individualized in Greece, as well as the finished objects to which they are attached. Unlike importing exotica and bullion, repoussé metalwork is not known in Sardinia and peninsular Italy during those times, thereby introducing a direct transfer of know-how between these two territories.
Through these few examples, of which we sense a short-term enrichment, we’ll try to measure and explain the integration of different types of remains within the native society, in order to draw the position of the island amongst the networks between the two basins of the Mediterranean.

Il volume propone una sintesi dei dati acquisiti grazie alle indagini archeologiche intraprese presso la villa romana di Cottanello nel 2010 dalla Sapienza Università di Roma e dal 2013 proseguire dall’Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico (ISMA) del CNR in collaborazione con l’Università stessa, in una prospettiva più ampia. Lo studio della villa di Cottanello e del suo territorio è stato affrontato, infatti, anche attraverso indagini scientifiche (rilievi topografici, prospezioni geofisiche, studio della geologia del territorio, motivato dalla presenza di importanti cave connesse con la villa) e analisi archeometriche dei reperti di scavo. Grazie al convergere delle diverse competenze disciplinari degli autori del volume (ricercatori dell’ISMA e degli Istituti ICVBC, ITABC, ISM e IGAG del CNR, della Sapienza Università di Roma e delle Università Suor Orsola Benincasa e Federico II di Napoli, oltre ad alcuni studiosi indipendenti) è stato dunque possibile ricavare una nuova immagine della villa che arricchisce quella già delineata negli studi precedenti in un’ottica multidisciplinare, basata su una stretta interconnessione tra ricerca, didattica e valorizzazione.

Many proposals have been put forward about how to describe pottery fabrics in the field; however, in many instances,
later archaeometric analysis carried out to check fabric groups from the field reveals large discrepancies, and the fabric groups
determined in the field are not confirmed. When a large number of samples cannot be taken to a laboratory (e.g. to another country)
for archaeometric analysis, precise fabric classification and documentation in the field is necessary. Modern digital cameras offer a
cheap and quick way of photographing a fresh break. This could be done with thousands of sherds

The paper aims at discussing some preconditions of chemical analysis of ancient ceramics.
At the Arbeitsgruppe Archäometrie, freie Universität Berlin, wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence
(WD-XRf) is used. Comparison with neutron-activation analysis (NAA) is discussed. The total precision
of analysis comprises precision of sampling, of preparation and of measurement. Accuracy must be determined
by analysing international standard reference material. SARM69 is discussed as an example

Introduction
The present study focuses on Late-Roman/Early Medieval glass found in the productive area within the ancient harbour of Classe near Ravenna, one of the most important trade centres between the 5th and 8th centuries AD of the Northern Adriatic area. Aims of the study were the identification of the main glass compositions and their contextualisation in Late-Antique groups; the identification of provenance of raw glass, and, consequently, of commercial routes; the extent, if any, of recycling glass cullet, as an alternative to the import of fresh raw glass; the identification of possible connections between archaeological typology and glass chemical composition.

Results
32 glassworking wastes and 25 drinking vessel fragments for a total amount of 57 fragments were devoted to chemical analysis in XRF and EPMA. All the analysed fragments are silica-soda lime glasses, produced with natron as a flux, and are compositionally similar to Late-Antique groups HIMT, Série 3.2 and Levantine1. Raw glass chunks, glassworking wastes and objects of comparable compositions are identified into HIMT and Série 3.2 groups, while the Levantine 1 group includes only objects and glassworking wastes. Systematic comparisons between Classe and Aquileia, the two most important Late-Antique archaeological sites of North-Eastern Italy, were also carried out, and the same compositional groups were identified, although Série 3.2 in the Classe assemblage is more represented. Sr and Nd isotopic analysis confirmed that the composition of the three glasses derive from coastal sands of the Syro-Palestinian and Egyptian shore, with a slight shift in comparison to the published data. Little evidence of recycling was identified in the assemblage.

Conclusions
In the 5th century, a secondary glass workshop devoted to the shaping of glass vessels starting from raw glass chunks and, possibly, glass cullet, was active in the area of the harbour.

Raw glass of HIMT and Série 3.2 was imported from the Levant and Egypt. Comparisons between Classe and Aquileia show that during the Late Antiquity these sites seem to be supplied of raw glass by the same trade routes. In addition, some connections between types and chemical compositions were highlighted.

Keywords: Glass; Late-Antiquity; Classe; Chemical composition; Production technology; Provenance; Strontium; Neodymium; Isotopes

The connection between the presence of the administration of a Hellenistic Kingdom and a royal mint appears at first glance to be relatively straightforward. Silver coinage is most often considered to be first and foremost a means of state payment, mainly for military purposes, and even bronze coinage – ostensibly produced for the purposes of non-state exchange – has been recently demonstrated to play an important role in state financial systems. Although coinage represents only a small percentage of state revenues, this connection between minting coinage and the state as first user often serves as confirmation of the intuitive connection between the site of the administration and that of monetary production. For the Ptolemaic kingdom, the concentration of all monetary production in Egypt into a single mint based in Alexandria – the locus of the Ptolemaic king himself – is a clear demonstration of this link.
The distribution and production of Ptolemaic mints in Cyprus, however, requires a re-evaluation of the relationship between monetary production and territorial administration. While Egypt had only a single mint under the Ptolemies, coinage was produced in no fewer than four cities in the comparatively tiny island of Cyprus. Salamis, Kition, and Paphos each housed mints which consistently produced the full range of coins on the Ptolemaic tri-metallic system throughout the Hellenistic period and Amathous briefly produced Ptolemaic silver coinage in 170/169 and 169/168 BC.
Despite the proliferation of mints throughout Cyprus, the mint at Nea Paphos differs significantly from the other centers of monetary production. In terms of geography, it is the only mint in the western half of the island. While Salamis and Kition are separated by only 45 km, there are more than 110 km between Salamis and Paphos with the Troodos forming a natural obstacle to travel between the cities. Moreover, in spite of its status as the administrative center of the island, Nea Paphos is the least productive mint of Cyprus for the majority of the Hellenistic period. Salamis and Kition clearly housed large Ptolemaic garrisons requiring a supply of coinage for their payment. Nonetheless, coinage is an easily transportable good and there is no obligation for coinage to have been produced in the cities themselves rather than in a central mint in the administrative center of the island. The goal of this paper, then, is to re-examine the nature of the link between the two functions of the city of Nea Paphos – royal mint and administrative center – and to reflect on monetary production in Cyprus and more largely on the Ptolemaic monetary system as a whole.

Si presentano i risultati degli scavi di una fornace da calce e di un ambiente sottoscala che ha restituito grassello di calce ancora fresco, nell'ambito della campagna del 2002-04 realizzata nell'area archeologica della Villa dei Quintili sulla via Appia Antica.

In the framework of the archeological investigations of an outstanding Roman Villas in Tuscany (Villa dell‟Oratorio, in the territory of Capraia e Limite, Florence), archaeometric studies have been perfomed with the aim to characterize building and decorative materials and retrace construction phases and manufacture technology. The Villas, built in the middle of the 4th century, includes a hexagonal structure, about 30 meters in diameter, decorated with painted wall plasters and beautiful figurative floor mosaics. The structure is equipped with apsed rooms (at least 5), exhibiting similarity with some monumental triclinia of
Constantinople and Rome. Archaeometric analyses have been carried out on mortars, stones and vitreous tesserae, with the aim to identify the raw materials and support the archaeological investigation about cultural models and economic status of the aristocratic owner in the Late Roman Tuscany. Mortars samples from different building units of the Villas have been studied through minero petrographic and thermogravimetric methods. Stone tesserae have been analyzed by minero-petrographic and sedimentologic methods, to obtain information on the provenance of the raw materials used. Finally, Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDS analyses have been performed on vitreous tesserae, to obtain information on colouring and opaquening agents. The studies carried out on the building elements suggested that, in spite of iconographic
and architectural models proper of the great Mediterranean villae, local and spolia raw materials were used in this great construction work.