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Tidal exchange, capillary rise, water condensation-evaporation cycles, and crystallizationof salts are the main causes of damage in historic brick buildings in Venice. The present studyaddressed these issues by proposing a study of twenty-three brick samples collected on the mainfaçade of the Santa Maria dei Servi Church (14th century). The color, mineralogical composition, and texture of these samples were studied using standard methods such as spectrophotometry,X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), optical microscopy (OM), and field emission scanning electronmicroscopy (FESEM). The presence of carbonates (calcite and dolomite) and newly formed silicatephases, such as gehlenite and diopside, provided indications of the temperatures reached during firing and suggested the absence of a good standardization in the production process. Meanwhile,XRPD and hyperspectral analysis (HA) detected sulfates (e.g., gypsum and mirabilite) as the mainweathering products due to the salt decay process that affects monuments in the Venice lagoonenvironment. Moreover, secondary phases, such as Mg- and Ca-zeolites, occurred in bricks where thegroundmass observed by OM was more vitrificated, and the XRPD patterns displayed the highestamorphous content. On-site mapping of sulfates and chlorophyll by HA was also performed on themain façade of the Church, highlighting the large presence of salts and biodeterioration.

The archaeometric study of ancient ceramic materials is often based on the use of different analytical techniques, typical of hard science (e.g. Maritan 2019). Methods that are normally selected depend on both the type of ceramic itself (coarse—versus fine-grained body), and the archaeological issues to be solved (Gliozzo 2020). Results from various types of analysis are often integrated within the same research to reconstruct the specific stages of the ceramic “life”, from the raw materials’...

This manual is intended to accompany the training of future ceramic specialists in the Arab world. Resulting from the collaboration of four major institutions of French archaeology abroad: the Section française de la direction des Antiquités du Soudan (Sfdas), the Institut français d’Archéologie orientale (Ifao), the Institut français du Proche-Orient (Ifpo) and the Centre français de recherche de la péninsule arabique (Cefrepa), it draws on the recent work of specialists from the Nile Valley, the Near East and the Arabian Peninsula to shed light on the theoretical reflections that have enriched ceramic studies in recent decades. Providing a genuine field tool, this volume is nonetheless a skilfully illustrated collection of the contribution of ceramic studies to the understanding of human history. This is the English version of the manual. The bilingual version (English / Arabic) is available here: https://page.hn/yq8gch.

In November 2019, the city of Venice (Italy) was hit by high tides (more than 150cm), with the highest tide peaked at 187cm. According to government statistics (reports, graphs and data of flooding since the year 1860), it is the worst flooding in Venice since 1966, when the city was hit by tides of up to 194cm (76 inches). In addition, in the last century the Venetian air quality has been strongly affected by the industrial activity in the near city of Porto Marghera and by the proximity presence of the Marco Polo Airport, which enriched the atmosphere in the CO2, SOx, NOx airborne composites. The present study addresses these issues by proposing a study of 23 brick samples collected on the main façade of the Santa Maria dei Servi Church (XIV century), one of the historical buildings hit by the high tide’s events in 2019. The façade is characterized by bricks of different color (yellow, pink and red) with an advanced decay conservation state due to the history of the monument and the environmental conditions. Color, mineralogy and texture of these samples were studied using standard methods such as, Spectrophotometry, Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD), Polarized Optical Microscopy (POM) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM-EDS). The presence of carbonates (calcite and dolomite) and new silicate phases (e.g. gehlenite and diopside) provided indications of the temperatures reached during firing and suggested the absence of a good standardization in the production process. While, X-ray diffraction and hyperspectral analysis (in the SWIR range) detected gypsum, halite and mirabilite as the main weathering products due to the salt decay process that affects monuments in Venice and in the overall lagoon environment. This work aims to increase the awareness in the decay process occurring on the historic Venetian urban texture to fix new planning tools and to achieve multiple goals oriented to a sustainable transformation of the city, leading it to more resilient solutions., Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2022 JpGU22, May 22-27, 2022

Carbonate rocks (limestones, marbles) are among the most commonly used building materials (both as dimension and ornamental stones), and are highly vulnerable to weathering, especially in polluted areas. One of the main issues in the evaluation of cultural heritage vulnerability is the quantification of the deterioration rate. With this goal in mind, and in the frame of the HYPERION Project, the water-driven recession of stone in cultural heritage was simulated and measured in the laboratory by exposing a set of carbonate rocks, historically exploited and used in northern Italy, to accelerated ageing tests by immersion in rainwaters with different compositions. The tests were run cyclically in an environmental test chamber, alternating wetting and drying phases; at fixed intervals, the recession of each sample was quantified by bulk weight-loss measurements and surface mapping at the confocal microscope. The relationship between the different mineralogy and texture of the stones and the rate and areal development of their recession was investigated, finding that, besides water pH, calcite grain size is the most important controlling decay factor. Correction coefficients were also calculated for obtaining more reliable recession estimations from recession equations known in the literature. The findings of this study can be exploited for predicting stone deterioration in cultural heritage constrained by the relevant environmental context and the expected future climate change., SGI-SIMP 2022 Meeting, September 19-21, 2022, Torino, Italy