Search

Dating from the fifth century bce, two Phoenician anthropoid sarcophagi, a male and a female, found in Gadir (Cadiz, Spain), are so far the most ancient marble sculptures found in the Iberian Peninsula. The identification of the source of the marble used to produce them has been a subject of controversy for several decades and has recently resurfaced when it was published that they were made by Phoenician artisans using Iberian marble from Macael. This identification is not only unreasonable from an archaeological point of view but also unsupported by any analytical data. On the contrary, as the sarcophagi belong to an Eastern Mediterranean Sidonian production, their raw material is most likely to be Greek–Minor Asian in origin. In order to shed a light on this dispute and objectively resolve the provenance of the marble, a multi‐method analytical approach was carried out. Optical microscopy, cathodoluminescence analyses, and C and O stable isotopes clarify the provenance of the marble, confirming that both singular sarcophagi were carved in a Cycladic marble, in accordance with their Sidonian style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until now, the use of trace elements to discriminate among differing provenances of classical white marbles from Mediterranean areas have produced controversial results, and the many drawbacks of this approach have been widely discussed. The behavior of trace elements was tested, aiming to determine their effectiveness for provenance purposes. In this work, in particular, representative specimens of fine-grained white marbles from quarries at Carrara, Penteli, Paros, Afyon and Göktepe were analyzed by Laser Ablation ICP-MS. LA-ICP-MS is recent analytical technique, which allows high-precision measurement of a large number of elements in given points in solid samples without any pre-treatment. The results and their statistical treatment showed that many elements, such as Mn, Y, V, Pb and Th, can be used as interesting markers in that they can identify marbles from different sites. In addition, other elements may be useful in singling out one specific quarry district, such as Zr for Paros, Sr for Göktepe or Mg for Carrara. Trace elements determination may be very promising as a method of assigning unknown marble artifacts to a clearly identified quarry and LA-ICP-MS analytical technique may partly solve the problem of incomparability of the data published in past studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an updated and enlarged archaeometric database of Proconnesos marbles with the aim of attaining more reliable inter- and intra-site identification. Quarry and artefact samples (n = 397) from 23 different quarrying areas were characterized using petrographic, isotopic and EPR results. The most distinct property of Proconnesos marbles is their extremely weak EPR intensity, associated with the low concentration of Mn2+impurities. This feature, supported by the contribution of other important isotopic and petrographic variables, forms the basis for the correct identification of Proconnesos marbles. Within the site the distribution of properties is relatively homogeneous; only limited intra-site discrimination is possible. All the experimental results, as well as the quarry samples are made available to other researchers willing to measure additional experimental properties, thus increasing the rate of within the site discrimination. Extensive survey has proved that, although about 10% of the samples exhibit maximum grain size below 1.0 mm, no locations exist where fine grained marbles could be intentionally quarried. The historical aspects of Proconnesos marble quarrying and usage are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 87Sr/86Sr ratios are presented for white marbles collected from some of the most famous classical quarry areas of the Mediterranean: Carrara, Paros, Naxos, Pentelikon, Dokimeion, Hymettus, Thasos, and Proconnesus. These ratios range from 0.7071 to 0.7092. The ranges of the different quarry areas are notably superimposed; this prevents a common adoption of this parameter in distinguishing the quarry locations for the classification of the provenance of marbles used during classical times for architectural and sculptural artefacts. However some quarry areas show peculiar distributions of their isotopic values, which could help to assign the provenance to an unknown marble artefact. Adding these new data to the scarce number of strontium isotopic compositions measured on white marbles and available in the relevant literature, permits the creation of an initial database of 11 classical quarry locations. This database confirms that the strontium isotope ratio could be used in marble provenance determination, together with petrographic and geochemical methods, as an ancillary technique. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]