Provenance Studies of Greek Marbles by Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis

Provenance of marble is a very difficult but most challenging problem. Before 1954 marble characterization was based primarily upon visual observation and only petrographic techniques were used as important supplements to assign marble provenance. Today several analytical techniques are used for marble identification which have been recently reviewed by Norman Herz (Herz, 1985). They all have advantages and limitations. Quite often more than one analytical techniques are used in provenance investigation of marbles (Moens et al. 1986).